Muslims believe that the Quran was verbally revealed by God to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel (Jibril),[6][7] gradually over a period of approximately 23 years, beginning on 22 December 609 CE,[8] when Muhammad was 40, and concluding in 632, the year of his death.[1][9][10] Muslims regard the Quran as the most important miracle of Muhammad, a proof of his prophethood,[11] and the culmination of a series of divine messages that started with the messages revealed to Adam and ended with Muhammad. The word "Quran" occurs some 70 times in the text of the Quran, although different names and words are also said to be references to the Quran.[12]

According to the traditional narrative, several companions of Muhammad served as scribes and were responsible for writing down the revelations.[13] Shortly after Muhammad's death, the Quran was compiled by his companions who wrote down and memorized parts of it,[14] these codices had differences that motivated the Caliph Uthman to establish a standard version now known as Uthman's codex, which is generally considered the archetype of the Quran known today. There are, however, variant readings, with mostly minor differences in meaning.[13]

The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in the Biblical scriptures, it summarizes some, dwells at length on others and, in some cases, presents alternative accounts and interpretations of events.[15][16][17] The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance for mankind 2:185, it sometimes offers detailed accounts of specific historical events, and it often emphasizes the moral significance of an event over its narrative sequence.[18][19] The Quran is used along with authentic and reliable hadith to interpret sharia law.[20] During prayers, the Quran is recited only in Arabic.[21]

Someone who has memorized the entire Quran is called a hafiz. Quranic verse (ayah) is sometimes recited with a special kind of elocution reserved for this purpose, called tajwid, during the month of Ramadan, Muslims typically complete the recitation of the whole Quran during tarawih prayers. In order to extrapolate the meaning of a particular Quranic verse, most Muslims rely on exegesis, or tafsir.[22]

Etymology and meaning

The word qurʼān appears about 70 times in the Quran itself, assuming various meanings, it is a verbal noun (maṣdar) of the Arabic verb qaraʼa (قرأ), meaning "he read" or "he recited". The Syriac equivalent is (ܩܪܝܢܐ) qeryānā, which refers to "scripture reading" or "lesson".[23] While some Western scholars consider the word to be derived from the Syriac, the majority of Muslim authorities hold the origin of the word is qaraʼa itself.[1] Regardless, it had become an Arabic term by Muhammad's lifetime.[1] An important meaning of the word is the "act of reciting", as reflected in an early Quranic passage: "It is for Us to collect it and to recite it (qurʼānahu)."[24]

In other verses, the word refers to "an individual passage recited [by Muhammad]", its liturgical context is seen in a number of passages, for example: "So when al-qurʼān is recited, listen to it and keep silent."[25] The word may also assume the meaning of a codified scripture when mentioned with other scriptures such as the Torah and Gospel.[26]

The term also has closely related synonyms that are employed throughout the Quran, each synonym possesses its own distinct meaning, but its use may converge with that of qurʼān in certain contexts. Such terms include kitāb (book); āyah (sign); and sūrah (scripture). The latter two terms also denote units of revelation; in the large majority of contexts, usually with a definite article (al-), the word is referred to as the "revelation" (waḥy), that which has been "sent down" (tanzīl) at intervals.[27][28] Other related words are: dhikr (remembrance), used to refer to the Quran in the sense of a reminder and warning, and ḥikmah (wisdom), sometimes referring to the revelation or part of it.[1][29]

The Quran describes itself as "the discernment" (al-furqān), "the mother book" (umm al-kitāb), "the guide" (huda), "the wisdom" (hikmah), "the remembrance" (dhikr) and "the revelation" (tanzīl; something sent down, signifying the descent of an object from a higher place to lower place).[30] Another term is al-kitāb (The Book), though it is also used in the Arabic language for other scriptures, such as the Torah and the Gospels, the term mus'haf ('written work') is often used to refer to particular Quranic manuscripts but is also used in the Quran to identify earlier revealed books.[1]

History

Prophetic era

Islamic tradition relates that Muhammad received his first revelation in the Cave of Hira during one of his isolated retreats to the mountains. Thereafter, he received revelations over a period of 23 years. According to hadith and Muslim history, after Muhammad immigrated to Medina and formed an independent Muslim community, he ordered many of his companions to recite the Quran and to learn and teach the laws, which were revealed daily. It is related that some of the Quraysh who were taken prisoners at the battle of Badr regained their freedom after they had taught some of the Muslims the simple writing of the time, thus a group of Muslims gradually became literate. As it was initially spoken, the Quran was recorded on tablets, bones, and the wide, flat ends of date palm fronds. Most suras were in use amongst early Muslims since they are mentioned in numerous sayings by both Sunni and Shia sources, relating Muhammad's use of the Quran as a call to Islam, the making of prayer and the manner of recitation. However, the Quran did not exist in book form at the time of Muhammad's death in 632.[31][32][33] There is agreement among scholars that Muhammad himself did not write down the revelation.[34]

Quranic verse calligraphy, inscribed on the shoulder blade of a camel with inks

Sahih al-Bukhari narrates Muhammad describing the revelations as, "Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell" and Aisha reported, "I saw the Prophet being inspired Divinely on a very cold day and noticed the sweat dropping from his forehead (as the Inspiration was over)."[35] Muhammad's first revelation, according to the Quran, was accompanied with a vision, the agent of revelation is mentioned as the "one mighty in power",[36] the one who "grew clear to view when he was on the uppermost horizon. Then he drew nigh and came down till he was (distant) two bows' length or even nearer."[32][37] The Islamic studies scholar Welch states in the Encyclopaedia of Islam that he believes the graphic descriptions of Muhammad's condition at these moments may be regarded as genuine, because he was severely disturbed after these revelations. According to Welch, these seizures would have been seen by those around him as convincing evidence for the superhuman origin of Muhammad's inspirations. However, Muhammad's critics accused him of being a possessed man, a soothsayer or a magician since his experiences were similar to those claimed by such figures well known in ancient Arabia. Welch additionally states that it remains uncertain whether these experiences occurred before or after Muhammad's initial claim of prophethood.[38]

Part of Al-Alaq – 96th sura of the Quran – the first revelation received by Muhammad.

The Quran describes Muhammad as "ummi",[39] which is traditionally interpreted as "illiterate," but the meaning is rather more complex. Medieval commentators such as Al-Tabari maintained that the term induced two meanings: first, the inability to read or write in general; second, the inexperience or ignorance of the previous books or scriptures (but they gave priority to the first meaning). Muhammad's illiteracy was taken as a sign of the genuineness of his prophethood, for example, according to Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, if Muhammad had mastered writing and reading he possibly would have been suspected of having studied the books of the ancestors. Some scholars such as Watt prefer the second meaning of "ummi" – they take it to indicate unfamiliarity with earlier sacred texts.[32][40]

Compilation

In the year 632, after the demise of Muhammad a number of his companions who knew the Quran by heart were killed in a battle by Musaylimah, the first caliph Abu Bakr (d. 634) decided to collect the book in one volume so that it could be preserved. Zayd ibn Thabit (d. 655) was the person to collect the Quran since "he used to write the Divine Inspiration for Allah's Apostle". Thus, a group of scribes, most importantly Zayd, collected the verses and produced a hand-written manuscript of the complete book, the manuscript according to Zayd remained with Abu Bakr until he died. Zayd's reaction to the task and the difficulties in collecting the Quranic material from parchments, palm-leaf stalks, thin stones and from men who knew it by heart is recorded in earlier narratives, after Abu Bakr, Hafsa bint Umar, Muhammad's widow, was entrusted with the manuscript. In about 650, the third Caliph Uthman ibn Affan (d. 656) began noticing slight differences in pronunciation of the Quran as Islam expanded beyond the Arabian Peninsula into Persia, the Levant, and North Africa. In order to preserve the sanctity of the text, he ordered a committee headed by Zayd to use Abu Bakr's copy and prepare a standard copy of the Quran.[31][41] Thus, within 20 years of Muhammad's death, the Quran was committed to written form, that text became the model from which copies were made and promulgated throughout the urban centers of the Muslim world, and other versions are believed to have been destroyed.[31][42][43][44] The present form of the Quran text is accepted by Muslim scholars to be the original version compiled by Abu Bakr.[32][33][45]

According to Shia, Ali ibn Abi Talib (d. 661) compiled a complete version of the Quran shortly after Muhammad's death. The order of this text differed from that gathered later during Uthman's era in that this version had been collected in chronological order, despite this, he made no objection against the standardized Quran and accepted the Quran in circulation. Other personal copies of the Quran might have existed including Ibn Mas'ud's and Ubay ibn Ka'b's codex, none of which exist today.[1][31][46]

The Quran most likely existed in scattered written form during Muhammad's lifetime. Several sources indicate that during Muhammad's lifetime a large number of his companions had memorized the revelations. Early commentaries and Islamic historical sources support the above-mentioned understanding of the Quran's early development,[14] the Quran in its present form is generally considered by academic scholars to record the words spoken by Muhammad because the search for variants has not yielded any differences of great significance.[page needed][47]University of Chicago professor Fred Donner states that "...there was a very early attempt to establish a uniform consonantal text of the Qurʾān from what was probably a wider and more varied group of related texts in early transmission. [...] After the creation of this standardized canonical text, earlier authoritative texts were suppressed, and all extant manuscripts—despite their numerous variants—seem to date to a time after this standard consonantal text was established."[48] Although most variant readings of the text of the Quran have ceased to be transmitted, some still are.[49][50] There has been no critical text produced on which a scholarly reconstruction of the Quranic text could be based.[51] Historically, controversy over the Quran's content has rarely become an issue, although debates continue on the subject.[52][53]

In 1972, in a mosque in the city of Sana'a, Yemen, manuscripts were discovered that were later proved to be the most ancient Quranic text known to exist at the time, the Sana'a manuscripts contain palimpsests, a manuscript page from which the text has been washed off to make the parchment reusable again—a practice which was common in ancient times due to scarcity of writing material. However, the faint washed-off underlying text (scriptio inferior) is still barely visible and believed to be "pre-Uthmanic" Quranic content, while the text written on top (scriptio superior) is believed to belong to Uthmanic time.[54] Studies using radiocarbon dating indicate that the parchments are dated to the period before 671 CE with a 99 percent probability.[55][56]

In 2015, fragments of a very early Quran, dating back to 1370 years ago, were discovered in the library of the University of Birmingham, England. According to the tests carried out by Oxford University Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, "with a probability of more than 95%, the parchment was from between 568 and 645", the manuscript is written in Hijazi script, an early form of written Arabic.[57][58] This is possibly the earliest extant exemplar of the Quran, but as the tests allow a range of possible dates, it cannot be said with certainty which of the existing versions is the oldest.[58] Saudi scholar Saud al-Sarhan has expressed doubt over the age of the fragments as they contain dots and chapter separators that are believed to have originated later.[59]

Muslims believe the Quran to be the book of divine guidance revealed from God to Muhammad through the angel Gabriel over a period of 23 years and view the Quran as God's final revelation to humanity.[9][60]

Revelation in Islamic and Quranic contexts means the act of God addressing an individual, conveying a message for a greater number of recipients. The process by which the divine message comes to the heart of a messenger of God is tanzil (to send down) or nuzūl (to come down), as the Quran says, "With the truth we (God) have sent it down and with the truth it has come down."[61]

The Quran frequently asserts in its text that it is divinely ordained, some verses in the Quran seem to imply that even those who do not speak Arabic would understand the Quran if it were recited to them.[62] The Quran refers to a written pre-text, "the preserved tablet", that records God's speech even before it was sent down.[63][64]

The issue of whether the Quran is eternal or created became a theological debate (Quran's createdness) in the ninth century. Mu'tazilas, an Islamic school of theology based on reason and rational thought, held that the Quran was created while the most widespread varieties of Muslim theologians considered the Quran to be co-eternal with God and therefore uncreated. Sufi philosophers view the question as artificial or wrongly framed.[65]

Muslims believe that the present wording of the Quran corresponds to that revealed to Muhammad, and according to their interpretation of Quran 15:9, it is protected from corruption ("Indeed, it is We who sent down the Quran and indeed, We will be its guardian.").[66] Muslims consider the Quran to be a guide, a sign of the prophethood of Muhammad and the truth of the religion.

Inimitability

Inimitability of the Quran (or "I'jaz") is the belief that no human speech can match the Quran in its content and form, the Quran is considered an inimitable miracle by Muslims, effective until the Day of Resurrection—and, thereby, the central proof granted to Muhammad in authentication of his prophetic status. The concept of inimitability originates in the Quran where in five different verses opponents are challenged to produce something like the Quran: "If men and sprites banded together to produce the like of this Quran they would never produce its like not though they backed one another."[67] So the suggestion is that if there are doubts concerning the divine authorship of the Quran, come forward and create something like it, from the ninth century, numerous works appeared which studied the Quran and examined its style and content. Medieval Muslim scholars including al-Jurjani (d. 1078) and al-Baqillani (d. 1013) have written treatises on the subject, discussed its various aspects, and used linguistic approaches to study the Quran. Others argue that the Quran contains noble ideas, has inner meanings, maintained its freshness through the ages and has caused great transformations at the individual level and in history, some scholars state that the Quran contains scientific information that agrees with modern science. The doctrine of the miraculousness of the Quran is further emphasized by Muhammad's illiteracy since the unlettered prophet could not have been suspected of composing the Quran.[46][68]

In worship

The first sura of the Quran is repeated in daily prayers and in other occasions, this sura, which consists of seven verses, is the most often recited sura of the Quran:[1]

Praised be God, Lord of the Universe, the Beneficent, the Merciful and Master of the Day of Judgment, You alone We do worship and from You alone we do seek assistance, guide us to the right path, the path of those to whom You have granted blessings, those who are neither subject to Your anger nor have gone astray."[69]

Other sections of the Quran of choice are also read in daily prayers.

Respect for the written text of the Quran is an important element of religious faith by many Muslims, and the Quran is treated with reverence. Based on tradition and a literal interpretation of Quran 56:79 ("none shall touch but those who are clean"), some Muslims believe that they must perform a ritual cleansing with water before touching a copy of the Quran, although this view is not universal.[1] Worn-out copies of the Quran are wrapped in a cloth and stored indefinitely in a safe place, buried in a mosque or a Muslim cemetery, or burned and the ashes buried or scattered over water.[70]

In Islam, most intellectual disciplines, including Islamic theology, philosophy, mysticism and jurisprudence, have been concerned with the Quran or have their foundation in its teachings.[1] Muslims believe that the preaching or reading of the Quran is rewarded with divine rewards variously called ajr, thawab or hasanat.[71]

In Islamic art

The Quran also inspired Islamic arts and specifically the so-called Quranic arts of calligraphy and illumination,[1] the Quran is never decorated with figurative images, but many Qurans have been highly decorated with decorative patterns in the margins of the page, or between the lines or at the start of suras. Islamic verses appear in many other media, on buildings and on objects of all sizes, such as mosque lamps, metal work, pottery and single pages of calligraphy for muraqqas or albums.

Text and arrangement

The Quran consists of 114 chapters of varying lengths, each known as a sura. Suras are classified as Meccan or Medinan, depending on whether the verses were revealed before or after the migration of Muhammad to the city of Medina. However, a sura classified as Medinan may contain Meccan verses in it and vice versa. Sura titles are derived from a name or quality discussed in the text, or from the first letters or words of the sura. Suras are arranged roughly in order of decreasing size, the sura arrangement is thus not connected to the sequence of revelation. Each sura except the ninth starts with the Bismillah (بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم), an Arabic phrase meaning "In the name of God". There are, however, still 114 occurrences of the Bismillah in the Quran, due to its presence in Quran 27:30 as the opening of Solomon's letter to the Queen of Sheba.[72]

Each sura consists of several verses, known as ayat, which originally means a "sign" or "evidence" sent by God, the number of verses differs from sura to sura. An individual verse may be just a few letters or several lines, the total number of verses in the Quran is 6,236; however, the number varies if the bismillahs are counted separately.

In addition to and independent of the division into suras, there are various ways of dividing the Quran into parts of approximately equal length for convenience in reading, the 30 juz' (plural ajzāʼ) can be used to read through the entire Quran in a month. Some of these parts are known by names—which are the first few words by which the juzʼ starts. A juz' is sometimes further divided into two ḥizb (plural aḥzāb), and each hizb subdivided into four rubʻ al-ahzab. The Quran is also divided into seven approximately equal parts, manzil (plural manāzil), for it to be recited in a week.[1]

A different structure is provided by semantical units resembling paragraphs and comprising roughly ten ayat each, such a section is called a rukū`.

The Muqattaʿat (Arabic: حروف مقطعات‎ ḥurūf muqaṭṭaʿāt "disjoined letters" or "disconnected letters";[73] also "mysterious letters") are combinations of between one and five Arabic letters figuring at the beginning of 29 out of the 114 surahs (chapters) of the [Quran just after the basmala.[74] The letters are also known as fawātih (فواتح) or "openers" as they form the opening verse of their respective suras . Four surahs are named for their muqatta'at, Ṭāʾ-Hāʾ, Yāʾ-Sīn, Ṣād and Qāf. The original significance of the letters is unknown. Tafsir (exegesis) has interpreted them as abbreviations for either names or qualities of God or for the names or content of the respective surahs.

According to one estimate the Quran consists of 77,430 words, 18,994 unique words, 12,183 stems, 3,382 lemmas and 1,685 roots.[75]

Contents

The Quranic content is concerned with basic Islamic beliefs including the existence of God and the resurrection. Narratives of the early prophets, ethical and legal subjects, historical events of Muhammad's time, charity and prayer also appear in the Quran, the Quranic verses contain general exhortations regarding right and wrong and historical events are related to outline general moral lessons. Verses pertaining to natural phenomena have been interpreted by Muslims as an indication of the authenticity of the Quranic message.[76]

Monotheism

The central theme of the Quran is monotheism. God is depicted as living, eternal, omniscient and omnipotent (see, e.g., Quran 2:20, 2:29, 2:255). God's omnipotence appears above all in his power to create, he is the creator of everything, of the heavens and the earth and what is between them (see, e.g., Quran 13:16, 50:38, etc.). All human beings are equal in their utter dependence upon God,[better source needed] and their well-being depends upon their acknowledging that fact and living accordingly.[32][76]

The Quran uses cosmological and contingency arguments in various verses without referring to the terms to prove the existence of God. Therefore, the universe is originated and needs an originator, and whatever exists must have a sufficient cause for its existence. Besides, the design of the universe is frequently referred to as a point of contemplation: "It is He who has created seven heavens in harmony. You cannot see any fault in God's creation; then look again: Can you see any flaw?"[77][46]

Eschatology

The doctrine of the last day and eschatology (the final fate of the universe) may be reckoned as the second great doctrine of the Quran,[32] it is estimated that approximately one-third of the Quran is eschatological, dealing with the afterlife in the next world and with the day of judgment at the end of time.[42] There is a reference to the afterlife on most pages of the Quran and belief in the afterlife is often referred to in conjunction with belief in God as in the common expression: "Believe in God and the last day".[78] A number of suras such as 44, 56, 75, 78, 81 and 101 are directly related to the afterlife and its preparations, some suras indicate the closeness of the event and warn people to be prepared for the imminent day. For instance, the first verses of Sura 22, which deal with the mighty earthquake and the situations of people on that day, represent this style of divine address: "O People! Be respectful to your Lord. The earthquake of the Hour is a mighty thing."[46]

The Quran is often vivid in its depiction of what will happen at the end time. Watt describes the Quranic view of End Time:[32]

"The climax of history, when the present world comes to an end, is referred to in various ways. It is 'the Day of Judgment,' 'the Last Day,' 'the Day of Resurrection,' or simply 'the Hour.' Less frequently it is 'the Day of Distinction' (when the good are separated from the evil), 'the Day of the Gathering' (of men to the presence of God) or 'the Day of the Meeting' (of men with God). The Hour comes suddenly, it is heralded by a shout, by a thunderclap, or by the blast of a trumpet. A cosmic upheaval then takes place, the mountains dissolve into dust, the seas boil up, the sun is darkened, the stars fall and the sky is rolled up. God appears as Judge, but his presence is hinted at rather than described. [...] The central interest, of course, is in the gathering of all mankind before the Judge. Human beings of all ages, restored to life, join the throng. To the scoffing objection of the unbelievers that former generations had been dead a long time and were now dust and mouldering bones, the reply is that God is nevertheless able to restore them to life."

The Quran does not assert a natural immortality of the human soul, since man's existence is dependent on the will of God: when he wills, he causes man to die; and when he wills, he raises him to life again in a bodily resurrection.[79]

Prophets

According to the Quran, God communicated with man and made his will known through signs and revelations. Prophets, or 'Messengers of God', received revelations and delivered them to humanity. The message has been identical and for all humankind. "Nothing is said to you that was not said to the messengers before you, that your lord has at his Command forgiveness as well as a most Grievous Penalty."[80] The revelation does not come directly from God to the prophets. Angels acting as God's messengers deliver the divine revelation to them, this comes out in Quran 42:51, in which it is stated: "It is not for any mortal that God should speak to them, except by revelation, or from behind a veil, or by sending a messenger to reveal by his permission whatsoever He will."[42][79]

Ethico-religious concepts

Belief is a fundamental aspect of morality in the Quran, and scholars have tried to determine the semantic contents of "belief" and "believer" in the Quran,[81] the ethico-legal concepts and exhortations dealing with righteous conduct are linked to a profound awareness of God, thereby emphasizing the importance of faith, accountability, and the belief in each human's ultimate encounter with God. People are invited to perform acts of charity, especially for the needy. Believers who "spend of their wealth by night and by day, in secret and in public" are promised that they "shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve".[82] It also affirms family life by legislating on matters of marriage, divorce, and inheritance. A number of practices, such as usury and gambling, are prohibited, the Quran is one of the fundamental sources of Islamic law (sharia). Some formal religious practices receive significant attention in the Quran including the formal prayers (salat) and fasting in the month of Ramadan, as for the manner in which the prayer is to be conducted, the Quran refers to prostration.[14][79] The term for charity, zakat, literally means purification. Charity, according to the Quran, is a means of self-purification.[63][83]

Encouragement for the sciences

The astrophysicist Nidhal Guessoum while being highly critical of pseudo-scientific claims made about the Quran, has highlighted the encouragement for sciences that the Quran provides by developing "the concept of knowledge.".[84] He writes: "The Qur'an draws attention to the danger of conjecturing without evidence (And follow not that of which you have not the (certain) knowledge of... 17:36) and in several different verses asks Muslims to require proofs (Say: Bring your proof if you are truthful 2:111), both in matters of theological belief and in natural science." Guessoum cites Ghaleb Hasan on the definition of "proof" according the Quran being "clear and strong... convincing evidence or argument." Also, such a proof cannot rely on an argument from authority, citing verse 5:104. Lastly, both assertions and rejections require a proof, according to verse 4:174.[85]Ismail al-Faruqi and Taha Jabir Alalwani are of the view that any reawakening of the Muslim civilization must start with the Quran; however, the biggest obstacle on this route is the "centuries old heritage of tafseer (exegesis) and other classical disciplines" which inhibit a "universal, epidemiological and systematic conception" of the Quran's message.[86] The philosopher Muhammad Iqbal, considered the Quran's methodology and epistemology to be empirical and rational.[87]

It's generally accepted[by whom?] that there are around 750 verses[which?] in the Quran dealing with natural phenomena. In many of these verses the study of nature is "encouraged and highly recommended," and historical Islamic scientists like Al-Biruni and Al-Battani derived their inspiration from verses of the Quran.[additional citation(s) needed]Mohammad Hashim Kamali has stated that "scientific observation, experimental knowledge and rationality" are the primary tools with which humanity can achieve the goals laid out for it in the Quran.[88]Ziauddin Sardar built a case for Muslims having developed the foundations of modern science, by highlighting the repeated calls of the Quran to observe and reflect upon natural phenomenon.[89]

The physicist Abdus Salam, in his Nobel Prize banquet address, quoted a well known verse from the Quran (67:3–4) and then stated: "This in effect is the faith of all physicists: the deeper we seek, the more is our wonder excited, the more is the dazzlement of our gaze".[90] One of Salam's core beliefs was that there is no contradiction between Islam and the discoveries that science allows humanity to make about nature and the universe. Salam also held the opinion that the Quran and the Islamic spirit of study and rational reflection was the source of extraordinary civilizational development.[91] Salam highlights, in particular, the work of Ibn al-Haytham and Al-Biruni as the pioneers of empiricism who introduced the experimental approach, breaking with Aristotle's influence and thus giving birth to modern science. Salam was also careful to differentiate between metaphysics and physics, and advised against empirically probing certain matters on which "physics is silent and will remain so," such as the doctrine of "creation from nothing" which in Salam's view is outside the limits of science and thus "gives way" to religious considerations.[92]

Literary style

The Quran's message is conveyed with various literary structures and devices; in the original Arabic, the suras and verses employ phonetic and thematic structures that assist the audience's efforts to recall the message of the text. Muslims[who?] assert (according to the Quran itself) that the Quranic content and style is inimitable.[93]

The language of the Quran has been described as "rhymed prose" as it partakes of both poetry and prose; however, this description runs the risk of failing to convey the rhythmic quality of Quranic language, which is more poetic in some parts and more prose-like in others. Rhyme, while found throughout the Quran, is conspicuous in many of the earlier Meccan suras, in which relatively short verses throw the rhyming words into prominence, the effectiveness of such a form is evident for instance in Sura 81, and there can be no doubt that these passages impressed the conscience of the hearers. Frequently a change of rhyme from one set of verses to another signals a change in the subject of discussion. Later sections also preserve this form but the style is more expository.[42][94]

The Quranic text seems to have no beginning, middle, or end, its nonlinear structure being akin to a web or net,[1] the textual arrangement is sometimes considered to exhibit lack of continuity, absence of any chronological or thematic order and repetitiousness.[95][96]Michael Sells, citing the work of the critic Norman O. Brown, acknowledges Brown's observation that the seeming disorganization of Quranic literary expression – its scattered or fragmented mode of composition in Sells's phrase – is in fact a literary device capable of delivering profound effects as if the intensity of the prophetic message were shattering the vehicle of human language in which it was being communicated.[97][98] Sells also addresses the much-discussed repetitiveness of the Quran, seeing this, too, as a literary device.

A text is self-referential when it speaks about itself and makes reference to itself. According to Stefan Wild, the Quran demonstrates this metatextuality by explaining, classifying, interpreting and justifying the words to be transmitted. Self-referentiality is evident in those passages where the Quran refers to itself as revelation (tanzil), remembrance (dhikr), news (naba'), criterion (furqan) in a self-designating manner (explicitly asserting its Divinity, "And this is a blessed Remembrance that We have sent down; so are you now denying it?"),[99] or in the frequent appearance of the "Say" tags, when Muhammad is commanded to speak (e.g., "Say: 'God's guidance is the true guidance'", "Say: 'Would you then dispute with us concerning God?'"). According to Wild the Quran is highly self-referential, the feature is more evident in early Meccan suras.[100]

Interpretation

The Quran has sparked a huge body of commentary and explication (tafsir), aimed at explaining the "meanings of the Quranic verses, clarifying their import and finding out their significance".[101]

Tafsir is one of the earliest academic activities of Muslims. According to the Quran, Muhammad was the first person who described the meanings of verses for early Muslims.[102] Other early exegetes included a few Companions of Muhammad, like ʻAli ibn Abi Talib, ʻAbdullah ibn Abbas, ʻAbdullah ibn Umar and Ubayy ibn Kaʻb. Exegesis in those days was confined to the explanation of literary aspects of the verse, the background of its revelation and, occasionally, interpretation of one verse with the help of the other. If the verse was about a historical event, then sometimes a few traditions (hadith) of Muhammad were narrated to make its meaning clear.[101]

Because the Quran is spoken in classical Arabic, many of the later converts to Islam (mostly non-Arabs) did not always understand the Quranic Arabic, they did not catch allusions that were clear to early Muslims fluent in Arabic and they were concerned with reconciling apparent conflict of themes in the Quran. Commentators erudite in Arabic explained the allusions, and perhaps most importantly, explained which Quranic verses had been revealed early in Muhammad's prophetic career, as being appropriate to the very earliest Muslim community, and which had been revealed later, canceling out or "abrogating" (nāsikh) the earlier text (mansūkh).[103][104] Other scholars, however, maintain that no abrogation has taken place in the Quran,[105] the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has published a ten-volume Urdu commentary on the Quran, with the name Tafseer e Kabir.[106]

Esoteric interpretation

Esoteric or Sufi interpretation attempts to unveil the inner meanings of the Quran. Sufism moves beyond the apparent (zahir) point of the verses and instead relates Quranic verses to the inner or esoteric (batin) and metaphysical dimensions of consciousness and existence.[107] According to Sands, esoteric interpretations are more suggestive than declarative, they are allusions (isharat) rather than explanations (tafsir), they indicate possibilities as much as they demonstrate the insights of each writer.[108]

Sufi interpretation, according to Annabel Keeler, also exemplifies the use of the theme of love, as for instance can be seen in Qushayri's interpretation of the Quran. Quran 7:143 says:

when Moses came at the time we appointed, and his Lord spoke to him, he said, 'My Lord, show yourself to me! Let me see you!' He said, 'you shall not see me but look at that mountain, if it remains standing firm you will see me.' When his Lord revealed Himself to the mountain, He made it crumble. Moses fell down unconscious. When he recovered, he said, 'Glory be to you! I repent to you! I am the first to believe!'

Moses, in 7:143, comes the way of those who are in love, he asks for a vision but his desire is denied, he is made to suffer by being commanded to look at other than the Beloved while the mountain is able to see God, the mountain crumbles and Moses faints at the sight of God's manifestation upon the mountain. In Qushayri's words, Moses came like thousands of men who traveled great distances, and there was nothing left to Moses of Moses; in that state of annihilation from himself, Moses was granted the unveiling of the realities. From the Sufi point of view, God is the always the beloved and the wayfarer's longing and suffering lead to realization of the truths.[109]

Men reading the Quran

Muhammad Husayn Tabatabaei says that according to the popular explanation among the later exegetes, ta'wil indicates the particular meaning a verse is directed towards. The meaning of revelation (tanzil), as opposed to ta'wil, is clear in its accordance to the obvious meaning of the words as they were revealed, but this explanation has become so widespread that, at present, it has become the primary meaning of ta'wil, which originally meant "to return" or "the returning place". In Tabatabaei's view, what has been rightly called ta'wil, or hermeneutic interpretation of the Quran, is not concerned simply with the denotation of words. Rather, it is concerned with certain truths and realities that transcend the comprehension of the common run of men; yet it is from these truths and realities that the principles of doctrine and the practical injunctions of the Quran issue forth. Interpretation is not the meaning of the verse—rather it transpires through that meaning, in a special sort of transpiration. There is a spiritual reality—which is the main objective of ordaining a law, or the basic aim in describing a divine attribute—and then there is an actual significance that a Quranic story refers to.[110][111]

According to Shia beliefs, those who are firmly rooted in knowledge like Muhammad and the imams know the secrets of the Quran. According to Tabatabaei, the statement "none knows its interpretation except God" remains valid, without any opposing or qualifying clause.[112] Therefore, so far as this verse is concerned, the knowledge of the Quran's interpretation is reserved for God, but Tabatabaei uses other verses and concludes that those who are purified by God know the interpretation of the Quran to a certain extent.[111]

According to Tabatabaei, there are acceptable and unacceptable esoteric interpretations. Acceptable ta'wil refers to the meaning of a verse beyond its literal meaning; rather the implicit meaning, which ultimately is known only to God and can't be comprehended directly through human thought alone. The verses in question here refer to the human qualities of coming, going, sitting, satisfaction, anger and sorrow, which are apparently attributed to God. Unacceptable ta'wil is where one "transfers" the apparent meaning of a verse to a different meaning by means of a proof; this method is not without obvious inconsistencies. Although this unacceptable ta'wil has gained considerable acceptance, it is incorrect and cannot be applied to the Quranic verses, the correct interpretation is that reality a verse refers to. It is found in all verses, the decisive and the ambiguous alike; it is not a sort of a meaning of the word; it is a fact that is too sublime for words. God has dressed them with words to bring them a bit nearer to our minds; in this respect they are like proverbs that are used to create a picture in the mind, and thus help the hearer to clearly grasp the intended idea.[111][113]

History of Sufi commentaries

One of the notable authors of esoteric interpretation prior to the 12th century is Sulami (d. 1021) without whose work the majority of very early Sufi commentaries would not have been preserved. Sulami's major commentary is a book named haqaiq al-tafsir ("Truths of Exegesis") which is a compilation of commentaries of earlier Sufis, from the 11th century onwards several other works appear, including commentaries by Qushayri (d. 1074), Daylami (d. 1193), Shirazi (d. 1209) and Suhrawardi (d. 1234). These works include material from Sulami's books plus the author's contributions. Many works are written in Persian such as the works of Maybudi (d. 1135) kashf al-asrar ("the unveiling of the secrets").[107]Rumi (d. 1273) wrote a vast amount of mystical poetry in his book Mathnawi. Rumi makes heavy use of the Quran in his poetry, a feature that is sometimes omitted in translations of Rumi's work. A large number of Quranic passages can be found in Mathnawi, which some consider a kind of Sufi interpretation of the Quran. Rumi's book is not exceptional for containing citations from and elaboration on the Quran, however, Rumi does mention Quran more frequently.[114] Simnani (d. 1336) wrote two influential works of esoteric exegesis on the Quran. He reconciled notions of God's manifestation through and in the physical world with the sentiments of Sunni Islam.[115] Comprehensive Sufi commentaries appear in the 18th century such as the work of Ismail Hakki Bursevi (d. 1725). His work ruh al-Bayan (the Spirit of Elucidation) is a voluminous exegesis. Written in Arabic, it combines the author's own ideas with those of his predecessors (notably Ibn Arabi and Ghazali).[115]

Levels of meaning

Unlike the Salafis and Zahiri, Shias and Sufis as well as some other Muslim philosophers believe the meaning of the Quran is not restricted to the literal aspect,[116] for them, it is an essential idea that the Quran also has inward aspects. Henry Corbin narrates a hadith that goes back to Muhammad:

The Quran possesses an external appearance and a hidden depth, an exoteric meaning and an esoteric meaning, this esoteric meaning in turn conceals an esoteric meaning (this depth possesses a depth, after the image of the celestial Spheres, which are enclosed within each other). So it goes on for seven esoteric meanings (seven depths of hidden depth).[116]

According to this view, it has also become evident that the inner meaning of the Quran does not eradicate or invalidate its outward meaning. Rather, it is like the soul, which gives life to the body.[117] Corbin considers the Quran to play a part in Islamic philosophy, because gnosiology itself goes hand in hand with prophetology.[118]

Commentaries dealing with the zahir (outward aspects) of the text are called tafsir, and hermeneutic and esoteric commentaries dealing with the batin are called ta'wil ("interpretation" or "explanation"), which involves taking the text back to its beginning. Commentators with an esoteric slant believe that the ultimate meaning of the Quran is known only to God;[1] in contrast, Quranic literalism, followed by Salafis and Zahiris, is the belief that the Quran should only be taken at its apparent meaning.[citation needed]

Reappropriation

Reappropriation is the name of the hermeneutical style of some ex-Muslims who have converted to Christianity, their style or reinterpretation is ad hoc and unsystematized and geared towards apologetics. This tradition of interpretation draws on the following practices: grammatical renegotiation, renegotiation of textual preference, retrieval, and concession.[119]

Translations

Translating the Quran has always been problematic and difficult. Many argue that the Quranic text cannot be reproduced in another language or form.[120] Furthermore, an Arabic word may have a range of meanings depending on the context, making an accurate translation even more difficult.[46]

Islamic tradition also holds that translations were made for Emperor Negus of Abyssinia and Byzantine Emperor Heraclius, as both received letters by Muhammad containing verses from the Quran;[46] in early centuries, the permissibility of translations was not an issue, but whether one could use translations in prayer.[citation needed]

As with translations of the Bible, the English translators have sometimes favored archaic English words and constructions over their more modern or conventional equivalents; for example, two widely read translators, A. Yusuf Ali and M. Marmaduke Pickthall, use the plural and singular "ye" and "thou" instead of the more common "you".[127]

The oldest Gurumukhi translation of the Quran Sharif in Gurmukhi has been found in village Lande of Moga district of Punjab which was printed in 1911.[128]

Arabic Quran with interlinear Persian translation from the Ilkhanid Era.

Recitation

Rules of recitation

The proper recitation of the Quran is the subject of a separate discipline named tajwid which determines in detail how the Quran should be recited, how each individual syllable is to be pronounced, the need to pay attention to the places where there should be a pause, to elisions, where the pronunciation should be long or short, where letters should be sounded together and where they should be kept separate, etc. It may be said that this discipline studies the laws and methods of the proper recitation of the Quran and covers three main areas: the proper pronunciation of consonants and vowels (the articulation of the Quranic phonemes), the rules of pause in recitation and of resumption of recitation, and the musical and melodious features of recitation.[46]

In order to avoid incorrect pronunciation, reciters who are not native speakers of Arabic language follow a program of training in countries such as Egypt or Saudi Arabia, the recitations of a few Egyptian reciters were highly influential in the development of the art of recitation. Southeast Asia is well known for world-class recitation, evidenced in the popularity of the woman reciters such as Maria Ulfah of Jakarta.[46]

There are two types of recitation: murattal is at a slower pace, used for study and practice. Mujawwad refers to a slow recitation that deploys heightened technical artistry and melodic modulation, as in public performances by trained experts. It is directed to and dependent upon an audience for the mujawwad reciter seeks to involve the listeners.[129]

Variant readings

Vocalization markers indicating specific vowel sounds were introduced into the Arabic language by the end of the 9th century, the first Quranic manuscripts lacked these marks, therefore several recitations remain acceptable. The variation in readings of the text permitted by the nature of the defective vocalization led to an increase in the number of readings during the 10th century, the 10th-century Muslim scholar from Baghdad, Ibn Mujāhid, is famous for establishing seven acceptable textual readings of the Quran. He studied various readings and their trustworthiness and chose seven 8th-century readers from the cities of Mecca, Medina, Kufa, Basra and Damascus. Ibn Mujahid did not explain why he chose seven readers, rather than six or ten, but this may be related to a prophetic tradition (Muhammad's saying) reporting that the Quran had been revealed in seven "ahruf" (meaning seven letters or modes). Today, the most popular readings are those transmitted by Ḥafṣ (d. 796) and Warsh (d. 812) which are according to two of Ibn Mujahid's reciters, Aasim ibn Abi al-Najud (Kufa, d. 745) and Nafi‘ al-Madani (Medina, d. 785), respectively. The influential standard Quran of Cairo (1924) uses an elaborate system of modified vowel-signs and a set of additional symbols for minute details and is based on ʻAsim's recitation, the 8th-century recitation of Kufa, this edition has become the standard for modern printings of the Quran.[42][49]

The variant readings of the Quran are one type of textual variant.[42][130] According to Melchert, the majority of disagreements have to do with vowels to supply, most of them in turn not conceivably reflecting dialectal differences and about one in eight disagreements has to do with whether to place dots above or below the line.[131]

Occasionally, an early Quran shows compatibility with a particular reading. A Syrian manuscript from the 8th century is shown to have been written according to the reading of Ibn Amir ad-Dimashqi.[133] Another study suggests that this manuscript bears the vocalization of himsi region.[134]

Writing and printing

Writing

Before printing was widely adopted in the 19th century, the Quran was transmitted in manuscripts made by calligraphers and copyists, the earliest manuscripts were written in Ḥijāzī-type script. The Hijazi style manuscripts nevertheless confirm that transmission of the Quran in writing began at an early stage. Probably in the ninth century, scripts began to feature thicker strokes, which are traditionally known as Kufic scripts. Toward the end of the ninth century, new scripts began to appear in copies of the Quran and replace earlier scripts, the reason for discontinuation in the use of the earlier style was that it took too long to produce and the demand for copies was increasing. Copyists would therefore choose simpler writing styles. Beginning in the 11th century, the styles of writing employed were primarily the naskh, muhaqqaq, rayḥānī and, on rarer occasions, the thuluth script. Naskh was in very widespread use. In North Africa and Spain, the Maghribī style was popular. More distinct is the Bihari script which was used solely in the north of India. Nastaʻlīq style was also rarely used in Persian world.[42][135]

In the beginning, the Quran did not have vocalization markings, the system of vocalization, as we know it today, seems to have been introduced towards the end of the ninth century. Since it would have been too costly for most Muslims to purchase a manuscript, copies of the Quran were held in mosques in order to make them accessible to people, these copies frequently took the form of a series of 30 parts or juzʼ. In terms of productivity, the Ottoman copyists provide the best example, this was in response to widespread demand, unpopularity of printing methods and for aesthetic reasons.[136]

Printed copies of the Quran during this period met with strong opposition from Muslim legal scholars: printing anything in Arabic was prohibited in the Ottoman empire between 1483 and 1726—initially, even on penalty of death,[142][143] the Ottoman ban on printing in Arabic script was lifted in 1726 for non-religious texts only upon the request of Ibrahim Muteferrika, who printed his first book in 1729. Very few books, and no religious texts, were printed in the Ottoman Empire for another century.[144]

In 1786, Catherine the Great of Russia, sponsored a printing press for "Tatar and Turkish orthography" in Saint Petersburg, with one Mullah Osman Ismail responsible for producing the Arabic types. A Quran was printed with this press in 1787, reprinted in 1790 and 1793 in Saint Petersburg, and in 1803 in Kazan,[145] the first edition printed in Iran appeared in Tehran (1828), a translation in Turkish was printed in Cairo in 1842, and the first officially sanctioned Ottoman edition was finally printed in Constantinople between 1875 and 1877 as a two-volume set, during the First Constitutional Era.[146][147]

Gustav Flügel published an edition of the Quran in 1834 in Leipzig, which remained authoritative for close to a century, until Cairo's Al-Azhar University published an edition of the Quran in 1924. This edition was the result of a long preparation as it standardized Quranic orthography and remains the basis of later editions.[42]

Criticism

The Qur'an's statements on the creation of the universe and earth, the origins of human life, biology, earth sciences and so on have been criticized by scientists as containing fallacies, being unscientific, and likely to be contradicted by evolving scientific theories.[148][149][150] Several scholars have said that it lacks clarity despite calling itself a clear book.[151][152][153][154][155]

Relationship with other literature

The Bible

It is He Who sent down to thee (step by step), in truth, the Book, confirming what went before it; and He sent down the Law (of Moses) and the Gospel (of Jesus) before this, as a guide to mankind, and He sent down the criterion (of judgment between right and wrong).[156]

The Quran speaks well[citation needed] of the relationship it has with former books (the Torah and the Gospels) and attributes their similarities to their unique origin and saying all of them have been revealed by the one God.[157]

Although Arabic, as a language and a literary tradition, was quite well developed by the time of Muhammad's prophetic activity, it was only after the emergence of Islam, with its founding scripture in Arabic, that the language reached its utmost capacity of expression, and the literature its highest point of complexity and sophistication. Indeed, it probably is no exaggeration to say that the Quran was one of the most conspicuous forces in the making of classical and post-classical Arabic literature.

The main areas in which the Quran exerted noticeable influence on Arabic literature are diction and themes; other areas are related to the literary aspects of the Quran particularly oaths (q.v.), metaphors, motifs and symbols. As far as diction is concerned, one could say that Quranic words, idioms and expressions, especially "loaded" and formulaic phrases, appear in practically all genres of literature and in such abundance that it is simply impossible to compile a full record of them, for not only did the Quran create an entirely new linguistic corpus to express its message, it also endowed old, pre-Islamic words with new meanings and it is these meanings that took root in the language and subsequently in the literature...

^[b] The Arabic pronunciation can be transcribed phonemically as /al.qurˈʔaːn/. The actual pronunciation in Literary Arabic varies regionally, the first vowel varies from [o] to [ʊ] to [u], while the second vowel varies from [æ] to [a] to [ɑ]. For example, the pronunciation in Egypt is [qorˤˈʔɑːn] and in Central East Arabia [qʊrˈʔæːn].

^[c] The form Alcoran (and its variants) was usual before the 19th century when it became obsolete.[169][170] The form Koran was most predominant from the second half of the 18th century till the 1980s, when it has been superseded by either Qur'an or Quran.[170][171][172][173] Other transliterations include al-Coran, Coran, Kuran and al-Qur'an. The adjectives vary as well and include Koranic, Quranic and Qur'anic (sometimes in lowercase).[174]

^According to Welch in the Encyclopedia of Islam, the verses pertaining to the usage of the word hikma should probably be interpreted in the light of IV, 105, where it is said that "Muhammad is to judge (tahkum) mankind on the basis of the Book sent down to him."

^Translation of Sahih Bukhari, Book 1Archived 10 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine.. Center for Muslim-Jewish Engagement. "God's Apostle replied, 'Sometimes it is (revealed) like the ringing of a bell, this form of Inspiration is the hardest of all and then this state passes off after I have grasped what is inspired. Sometimes the Angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me and I grasp whatever he says.' ʻAisha added: Verily I saw the Prophet being inspired Divinely on a very cold day and noticed the Sweat dropping from his forehead (as the Inspiration was over)."

^For both the claim that variant readings are still transmitted and the claim that no such critical edition has been produced, see Gilliot, C., "Creation of a fixed text" in McAuliffe, J. D. (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Qur'ān (Cambridge University Press, 2006), p. 52.

^"The final process of collection and codification of the Quran text was guided by one over-arching principle: God's words must not in any way be distorted or sullied by human intervention. For this reason, no serious attempt, apparently, was made to edit the numerous revelations, organize them into thematic units, or present them in chronological order... This has given rise in the past to a great deal of criticism by European and American scholars of Islam, who find the Quran disorganized, repetitive and very difficult to read." Approaches to the Asian Classics, Irene Blomm, William Theodore De Bary, Columbia University Press, 1990, p. 65

^Samuel Pepys: "One feels it difficult to see how any mortal ever could consider this Quran as a Book written in Heaven, too good for the Earth; as a well-written book, or indeed as a book at all; and not a bewildered rhapsody; written, so far as writing goes, as badly as almost any book ever was!" "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 18 May 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2013.

^"the major Ottoman printing houses published a combined total of only 142 books in more than a century of printing between 1727 and 1838. When taken in conjunction with the fact that only a minuscule number of copies of each book were printed, this statistic demonstrates that the introduction of the printing press did not transform Ottoman cultural life until the emergence of vibrant print media in the middle of the nineteenth century" Şükrü Hanioğlu, "A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire", Princeton University Press (2010), cited after Suresh Emre, On the late adoption of the printing press in the Ottoman Empire (2014).

^"at imperial expense, a 'Tatar and Turkish Typography' was established in St. Petersburg; a domestic scholar, Mullah Osman Ismail, was responsible for the manufacture of the types. One of the first products of this printing house was the Qur'ān. Through the doctor and writer, Johann Georg v. Zimmermann (d. 1795), who was befriended by Catherine II, a copy of the publication arrived in the Göttingen University library. Its director, the philologist Christian Gottlob Heyne (d. 1812), presented the work immediately in the Göttingische Anzeigen von gelehrten Sachen (28 July 1788); therein he pointed especially to the beauty of the Arabic types. To the Arabic text marginal glosses have been added that consist predominantly of reading variants, the imprint was reproduced unchanged in 1790 and 1793 in St. Petersburg (cf. Schnurrer, Bibliotheca arabica, no. 384); later, after the transfer of the printing house to Kazan, editions appeared in different formats and with varying presentation (Dorn, Chronologisches Verzeichnis, 371)." Encyclopaedia of the Qurʼān: P-Sh ed. Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Brill, 2004, p. 251. For the 1803 Kazan edition: Chauvin, V.C. Bib. des ouvrages arabes, vol. X, 95; Schnurrer, C.F. von. Bibliotheca Arabica, 385. Original held by Bayerische Staatsbibliothek – Munich, Germany, Shelfmark BSB A.or.554.

^Iriye, A.; Saunier, P. (2009). The Palgrave Dictionary of Transnational History: From the mid-19th century to the present day. Springer. p. 627. ISBN978-1-349-74030-7.

^Gerd Puin is quoted in the Atlantic Monthly, January, 1999:«The Koran claims for itself that it is 'mubeen' or 'clear'. But if you look at it, you will notice that every fifth sentence or so simply doesn't make sense... the fact is that a fifth of the Koranic text is just incomprehensible...«

Gibson, Dan (2011). Qur'anic Geography: A Survey and Evaluation of the Geographical References in the Qur'an with Suggested Solutions for Various Problems and Issues. Independent Scholars Press, Canada. ISBN978-0-9733642-8-6.

1.
Islam
–
Islam is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion which professes that there is only one and incomparable God and that Muhammad is the last messenger of God. It is the worlds second-largest religion and the major religion in the world, with over 1.7 billion followers or 23% of the global population. Islam teaches that God is merciful, all-powerful, and unique, and He has guided mankind through revealed scriptures, natural signs, and a line of prophets sealed by Muhammad. The primary scriptures of Islam are the Quran, viewed by Muslims as the word of God. Muslims believe that Islam is the original, complete and universal version of a faith that was revealed many times before through prophets including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses. As for the Quran, Muslims consider it to be the unaltered, certain religious rites and customs are observed by the Muslims in their family and social life, while social responsibilities to parents, relatives, and neighbors have also been defined. Besides, the Quran and the sunnah of Muhammad prescribe a comprehensive body of moral guidelines for Muslims to be followed in their personal, social, political, Islam began in the early 7th century. Originating in Mecca, it spread in the Arabian Peninsula. The expansion of the Muslim world involved various caliphates and empires, traders, most Muslims are of one of two denominations, Sunni or Shia. Islam is the dominant religion in the Middle East, North Africa, sizable Muslim communities are also found in Horn of Africa, Europe, China, Russia, Mainland Southeast Asia, Philippines, Northern Borneo, Caucasus and the Americas. Converts and immigrant communities are found in almost every part of the world, Islam is a verbal noun originating from the triliteral root s-l-m which forms a large class of words mostly relating to concepts of wholeness, submission, safeness and peace. In a religious context it means voluntary submission to God, Islām is the verbal noun of Form IV of the root, and means submission or surrender. Muslim, the word for an adherent of Islam, is the active participle of the verb form. The word sometimes has connotations in its various occurrences in the Quran. In some verses, there is stress on the quality of Islam as a state, Whomsoever God desires to guide. Other verses connect Islām and dīn, Today, I have perfected your religion for you, I have completed My blessing upon you, still others describe Islam as an action of returning to God—more than just a verbal affirmation of faith. In the Hadith of Gabriel, islām is presented as one part of a triad that also includes imān, Islam was historically called Muhammadanism in Anglophone societies. This term has fallen out of use and is said to be offensive because it suggests that a human being rather than God is central to Muslims religion

2.
Surah
–
A Surah is the term for a chapter of the Quran. There are 114 Surahs in the Quran, each divided into verses, the chapters or suras are of unequal length, the shortest chapter has only three ayat while the longest contains 286 verses. Of the 114 chapters in the Quran,87 are classified as Meccan, except for sura At-Tawba, all chapters or suras commence with In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. This formula is known as the Bismillah and denotes the boundaries between chapters, the chapters are arranged roughly in order of descending size, therefore the arrangement of the Quran is neither chronological nor thematic. Suras are recited during the portions of Muslim prayers. Sura Al-Fatiha, the first chapter of the Quran, is recited in every unit of prayer, the word sura was used at the time of Muhammad as a term with the meaning of a chapter or a portion of the Quran. Its plural form suwar is also mentioned in the Quran, Or do they say, say, Then bring ten suwar like it and call upon whomever you can besides God, if you are truthful. Nöldeke following Buxtorf suggested that the sura has similar root with the Hebrew word שורה meaning a row. Some took it as connected with the Arabic word Sur meaning a wall, jeffery believes that it has a common origin with a Syrian word that means writing. Chapters in the Quran are not arranged in the order of revelation. For this reason, no attempt was made to edit the numerous revelations, organize them into thematic units, a number of medieval Islamic writers attempted to compile a chronologically ordered list of the chapters, with differing results. One version is given in a 15th-century work by Abd al-Kafi, another list is mentioned by Abu Salih, while a significantly different version of Abu Salihs is preserved in the book Kitab Mabani. Yet another, from the 10th century, is given by Ibn Nadim, a number of verses are associated with particular events which helps date them. Muhammads first revelation was chapter 96, verses 16,41 and 47,13 refer to migration of Muslims which took place in the year 622. Verses 8, 1-7 and 3, 120-175 refer to battles of Badr, Muhammads last pilgrimage is mentioned in 5,3 which occurred in 632, a few months before he died. This method is of limited usefulness because the Quran narrates the life of Muhammad or the history of the Muslim community only incidentally. In fact, very few chapters contain clear references to events which took place in Muhammads life, theodor Nöldekes chronology is based on the assumption that the style of the Quran changes in one direction without reversals. Tripartite chapters open with a warning, followed by one or more narratives about unbelievers

3.
Ayah
–
In the context of Islams principal scripture, the Quran, ayah is used to mean verse, i. e. each statement or paragraph marked by a number. These are the ayat of God, which We recite to you with truth, then in which speech after God and His signs will they believe. Although meaning verse when using the Quran, it is doubtful whether ayah means anything other than sign or remarkable event in the Qurans text. The signs refer to various phenomena, ranging from the universe, its creation, other references are to miracles or to the rewards of belief and the fate of unbelievers. For example, And of his signs is the creation of the heavens and earth, and a sign for them is the dead earth. We have brought it to life and brought forth from it grain, herein is indeed a sign yet most of them are not believers. You are but a mortal like us, so bring some sign if you are of the truthful. Chapters in the Quran consist of verses, varying in number from 3 to 286. Within a long chapter, the verses may be grouped into thematic sequences or passages. For the purpose of interpretation, the verses are separated into two groups, those that are clear and unambiguous and those that are allegorical and this distinction is based on the Quran itself, It is God Who has sent down to you the Book. In it are verses that are clear, they are the foundation of the Book, and those who are firmly grounded in knowledge say, We believe in the Book, the whole of it is from our Lord. And none will grasp the Message except men of understanding, the word ayah is also used to refer to the verses of the Bible by Arab Christians and Christians in countries where Arabic words are used for religious terms. A common myth persists that the number of verses in the Quran is 6,666, in fact, the total number of verses in all chapters is 6,236, although this varies depending on how the Bismillah appearing at the start of each chapter is counted. The Unicode symbol for a Quran verse, U+06DD, is, the first ayahs in the Quran from a chronological order are Read in the name of your Lord who created. He created man from a clot, Read, and your Lord is the Most Honorable who taught with the pen from sura Al-Alaq. The first ayahs from an order are In the name of God, the Merciful. The first ayahs after the opening sura are Alif Lam Mim and this is the Scripture whereof there is no doubt, a guidance unto those who ward off, from sura Al-Baqara. Quranism Media related to Islamic mythology at Wikimedia Commons

4.
Juz'
–
A juzʼ is one of thirty parts of varying lengths into which the Quran is sometimes divided. Of note, division into juz has no relevance to the meaning of the Quran, some use these divisions to facilitate recitation of the Quran in a month – especially during Ramadan, when the entire Quran is recited in the Tarawih prayers, reciting approximately one juz a night. A juz is further divided into two ahzab, and each hizb is in turn subdivided into four quarters, making eight quarters per juz, there are 240 of these quarters in the Quran. These maqra are often used as sections for revision when memorizing the Quran, the most commonly memorized juz is juzʾ amma, which is the 30th juz and contains chapters 78 through 114, most of the shortest chapters of the Quran. Juzʾ amma is named after the 1st word of the 1st chapter in that juz, muslims from South Asia also refer to a juz as a para or paaro

5.
Islamic eschatology
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Islamic eschatology is the branch of Islamic scholarship that studies Yawm al-Qiyāmah or Yawm ad-Dīn. This is believed to be the final assessment of humanity by God, consisting of the annihilation of all life, resurrection, the time of the event is not specified, although there are major and minor signs which have been foretold to happen at al-Qiyamah. Many verses of the Quran contain the motif of the impending Last Judgment, surat al-Qiyama has as its main subject the resurrection. The Great Tribulation is also described in the hadith, and commentaries of the such as al-Ghazali, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Majah, Muhammad al-Bukhari. The Day of Judgment is also known as the Day of Reckoning, the hadith describe the end time with more specificity than the Quran, describing the events of al-Qiyamah through twelve major signs. At the time of judgment, terrible corruption and chaos will rule, the Mahdi will be sent and with the help of Jesus, will battle Masih ad-Dajjal. They will triumph, liberating Islam from cruelty, and this will be followed by a time of serenity with people living true to religious values, however, there is no mention of the advent of Mahdi and Isa in one era in any of the hadith. Some Muslim scholars translate the Arabic word Imam as Mahdi to prove the advent of Mahdi, like other Abrahamic religions, Islam also teaches resurrection of the dead, a final tribulation and eternal division of the righteous and wicked. Islamic apocalyptic literature describing Armageddon is often known as fitna, malāḥim, the righteous are rewarded with pleasures of Jannah Paradise, while the unrighteous are punished in Jahannam Hell. The Day of Judgment or Resurrection, al-Qiyāmah, is one of the six articles of faith in Islam. The tribulation associated with it is described in the Quran and hadith, and commentaries of ulama like al-Ghazali, Ibn Kathir, Ibn Majah, Muhammad al-Bukhari, the Day of Judgment is also known as the Day of Reckoning, the Hour, and the Last Day. The Day of Judgment or Resurrection, al-Qiyāmah, relates to one of the six articles in Sunni Islam and seven articles in Shia Islam. There are two sources in Islamic scripture that discuss the Last Judgment, the Quran, which is viewed in Islam as infallible. Hadith are viewed with more flexibility due to the compilation of the traditions in written form. The concept has also discussed in commentaries of ulama such as al-Ghazali, Ibn Kathir. The Quran describes the Last Judgment with a number of interpretations of its verses, there are specific aspects, The time is known only to God. Those who have been dead will believe that a time has passed between birth and death. God will resurrect all, even if they have turned to stone or iron and those that have accepted false deities will suffer in the afterlife

6.
Women in the Quran
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This article is about women that appear in the Quran. For the roles, rights, and duties of women as laid out in the Quran, Women in the Quran are important characters and subjects of discussion in the stories and morals taught in Islam. Some of the women in the Quran are portrayed in a positive light, Mary is the only woman mentioned in the Quran by name. The others names come from other traditions, Most of the women in the Quran are represented as either the mothers or wives of certain leaders and prophets. While the Quran does not directly name any woman except for Mary, women play a role in many of the rich and these stories have been subject to manipulation and rigid interpretation in both classical commentary and popular literature from patriarchal societies. Throughout history, different Islamic exegetes and lawmakers constantly reinterpreted the women presented in the Quran as a result of the dominating ideology, Eve, like all other women in the Quran, save for Mary, is not mentioned by name. However, in later hadith she is referred to as Hawwa and she appears in a total of three Suras, referred to both as Adam’s partner and wife, while Adam appears separately in an additional two. The Quranic narrative of Adam and Eves creation and fall differs thematically from the more fleshed out story in the Jewish, similar to the Christian and Jewish tale, Allah created Adam and Eve and created a place for them to live, Paradise. However, in the Quran Hawwa’s role is minimal, as she is the accomplice to human sin rather than the instigator and it is Adam who is forewarned by Allah that Iblis, Satan, is his and Hawwas natural enemy and the threat to getting them removed from heaven. Instead of being portrayed as the cause of Adam’s fall, Eve is merely presented as equally compliant in the sin and then later, however the early exegesis surrounding the creation and fall story was influenced heavily by the pervading Christian and Jewish notions of Eve. Therefore, the early medieval exegeses focus on depicting Hawwa as morally and mentally compromised, as in the Christian and Jewish tradition, Hawwa is seen as the one who tempts the prophet Adam into sin. Her status as the first woman in the world is incredibly relevant since she is looked upon as the model for her sex, today both traditional and modernist thinkers look to Hawwa either to support or deny their argument regarding the equality of women in the religion. Specifically, those with a traditionalist view believe in the Hadith, in response, more liberal interpretations cite no direct and incontestable truth that Hawwa was created from a “crooked rib”, they claim such suggestions do not stem from verifiable sources. The three verses in the Quran mentioning the wives of Noah and Lot, or Nuh and Lut in Arabic, are a conjoined entry depicting the consequences and response by Allah to non-believers. According to the Quran and later depictions, both women were guilty of not believing the message of their husbands, and therefore failed both as wives and religious figures. Oftentimes the names of women are confused, however the general scholarly consensus regards that Noah’s wife was Amzura while Lot’s wife was Wā‘ila. This continual reversal of the two names underscores exactly how both women have served the same purpose in Islamic exegesis. In the case of Noah’s wife many theorists surmise that she died in the flood and was not allowed on the ark due to her continual instigation that her husband was crazy

7.
God in Islam
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In Islamic theology, God is the all-powerful and all-knowing creator, sustainer, ordainer and judge of everything in existence. Islam emphasizes that God is strictly singular, unique, inherently One, also all-merciful, the Surat 112 Al-Ikhlāş says, He is God, One. He neither begets nor is born, Nor is there to Him any equivalent, in Islam, there are 99 known names of God, each of which evoke a distinct attribute of God. All these names refer to Allah, the supreme and all-comprehensive god, among the 99 names of God, the most familiar and frequent of these names are the Compassionate and the Merciful. Creation and ordering of the universe is seen as an act of mercy for which all creatures sing Gods attributes. Allah is the Arabic word referring to God in Abrahamic religions and it is distinguished from ilāh, the Arabic word meaning deity, which could refer to any of the gods worshipped in pre-Islamic Arabia. God is described and referred to in the Quran and hadith by certain names or attributes, the Quran refers to the attributes of God as most beautiful names. According to Gerhard Böwering, They are traditionally enumerated as 99 in number to which is added as the highest Name, there are numerous conventional phrases and expressions invoking God. Islams most fundamental concept is a strict monotheism called tawhid, affirming that God is one, the basic creed of Islam, the Shahada, involves لا إله إلا الله, or, I testify there is no god other than God. Muslims reject the Christian doctrine of the Trinity and divinity of Jesus, according to Vincent J. Tawhid constitutes the foremost article of the Muslim profession. The deification or worship of anyone or anything other than God is the biggest sin in Islam, the entirety of the Islamic teaching rests on the principle of Tawhid. God is the creator of the universe and all the creatures in it, praise is to Allah, Creator of the heavens and the earth, made the angels messengers having wings, two or three or four. He increases in creation what He wills, indeed, Allah is over all things competent. And it is We Who have constructed the heavens with might and verily and we created man from an extract of clay. Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, so blessed be Allah, the Best of creators. Be dutiful to your Lord, Who created you from a person and from Him He created his wife. And verily Allah is my Lord and your Lord, the most commonly used names in the primary sources are Al-Rahman, meaning Most Compassionate and Al-Rahim, meaning Most Merciful. God is said to love forgiving, with a hadith stating God would replace a sinless people with one who sinned but still asked repentance

8.
Biblical and Quranic narratives
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The Quran, the central religious text of Islam, contains references to more than fifty people and events also found in the Bible. While the stories told in each book are generally comparable in most respects, many stories in the Bible are not mentioned at all in the Quran. Often, stories related in the Quran tend to concentrate on the Islamic moral or spiritual significance of events rather than the details. According to the story, a Serpent tempted them to partake of fruit from the tree, telling them that they would become like God themselves by doing so, immediately thereafter, they became ashamed and covered their nakedness with leaves. God questioned them concerning their actions, reminding them of His command to not eat of the tree. He next put enmity between the woman and the serpent, and between humans and the tempter, then forced Adam and Eve to leave the garden, following which these two humans then populated the earth. According to the Islamic creation narrative in the Quran, before creating Adam from clay by uttering the simple word Be, when they asked him will You place therein one who will do harm and shed blood, while we, we hymn Your praise and sanctify You. He said, Surely I know that which you know not, God next commanded all of the angels to prostrate themselves before Adam, to honour Gods new creation and to display obedience to God. All of them did except for Iblis, a jinn who was arrogant and refused to comply because he thought Adam was inferior to him because he was created from clay, while Iblis was created from fire. Shaitaan subsequently swore to mislead mankind from the path of God. Among the many significant differences between the stories are, In the Bible, God tells the man to name the animals, in the Quran, God teaches Adam the names of all things and Adam repeats them. In the second of the Bibles creation stories, the woman is created from the rib of the man. In the Quran, Eve is not mentioned by name, but it states that all mankind were created from one soul, but the creation of Eve from Adams rib is in hadith. In the Bible, the forbidden tree named is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and while its fruit is often depicted as an apple, the Bible does not describe the fruit. In the Quran the forbidden tree is not named but Shaitaan calls it The Tree of Eternity to deceive Adam, in the Bible, God creates man in His own image. In the Quran, God says Surely the likeness of Isa is with God as the likeness of Adam, He created him from dust, then said to him, Be, in the Quran, God tells the angels to prostrate before Adam, but Iblis refuses. In the Bible, no account is given. According to the Bible, because of Gods curse, serpents have to crawl and eat dust, women have to suffer in childbirth, the Biblical story also states that women will suffer from periods and will bear pregnancy pain

9.
Quran and miracles
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Islam considers the Quran to be a holy book, the word of Allah, and a miracle. And if you are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down to Our final Messenger, then produce a surah of the like thereof and call your witnesses besides Allah, or they say, He forged it. Say, Bring you then ten forged surah like unto it, or do they say, He has forged it. Say, Bring then a surah like unto it, and call whomsoever you can, besides Allah. Or do they say, He has forged it, let them then produce a recital like unto it if they are truthful. The Quran describes Muhammad as ummi, which is interpreted as unlettered. Besides, Muhammads being ummi was taken as a sign of the genuineness of his prophethood, for example, according to Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, if Muhammad had mastered writing and reading he possibly would have been suspected of having studied the books of the ancestors. Some scholars such as Watt prefer the second meaning, the suggestion is that since Muhammad had no previous knowledge of the content in the Quran, it was in fact composed of miracles. The majority of Muslim thinkers accept the factuality of the found in the Quran. This is why Muslims do not rely on these miracles when attempting to convert others to Islam, throughout the Quran, claims or predictions are made concerning future events. Many of the prophecies are viewed as having metaphoric meanings, while others are more literally. Some prophecies are debated more than others as to whether or not they were actually fulfilled or how the Quranic text should be interpreted, one of the more general prophecies is that the Quran predicts its own preservation and endurance. The Quran states that the book itself will survive as a valid source, Muslim scholars say that todays Quran is the same Quran originally compiled by Muhammad, and that the memorisation ensures the consistency and its preservation. The following passages from the Quran state these prophecies, “We have, without doubt, Sent down the Message, And We will assuredly Guard it ”. “It is Allah Who has sent His Messenger with Guidance And the ideology of Truth, to make it superior over all other ways of life, another interpretation of the Quran is that it predicted the defeat of the Persians by the Romans. Before the prophecy, at the Battle of Antioch, in 613 C. E. the Persians defeated the Romans, Muslims were upset by this defeat because they felt more connected to Rome, a Christian empire, than to Persia, a Zoroastrian one. With God is the Decision, In the Past And in the Future, by 627 C. E. the Romans had successfully defeated the Persians, resulting in much celebration by Muslims and fulfilling the prophecy of the Quran. The Quran says “And We have indeed Made the Qur-an easy to understand and remember, the Quran’s “rhythmic style and eloquent expression” have been cited as aids in verbatim memorization

10.
Prophets and messengers in Islam
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Belief in Islamic prophets is one of the six articles of the Islamic faith, and specifically mentioned in the Quran. Muslims believe the first prophet was also the first human being, Many of the revelations delivered by the 48 prophets in Judaism and many prophets of Christianity are mentioned as such in the Quran but usually in altered form and with different names. For example, the Jewish Elisha is called Alyasa, Job is Ayyub, Jesus is Isa, the Torah given to Moses is called Tawrat, the Psalms given to David is the Zabur, the Gospel given to Jesus is Injil). Notwithstanding, none of the seven Jewish Prophetesses are mentioned in the Quran as prophets, each came to preach Islam at different times in history and some told of the coming of the final Islamic prophet and messenger of God, who would be named Ahmed commonly known as Muhammad. Each Islamic prophet directed a message to a different group of people, in Arabic and Hebrew, the term nabī means prophet. Forms of this noun occur 75 times in the Quran, the term nubuwwah occurs five times in the Quran. The terms rasūl and mursal denote messenger or apostle and occur more than 300 times, the term for a prophetic message, risālah, appears in the Quran in ten instances. The Syriac form of rasūl Allāh, s̲h̲eliḥeh d-allāhā, occurs frequently in the apocryphal Acts of St. Thomas, the corresponding verb for s̲h̲eliḥeh—s̲h̲alaḥ, occurs in connection with the prophets in the Hebrew Bible. The words prophet and messenger appear several times in the Old Testament, the following table shows these words in different languages, In the Hebrew Bible, the word navi occurs more commonly, and the Hebrew word malakh refers to Angels in Judaism. According to Judaism, Haggai, Zachariah, and Malachi were the last prophets, with them, the authentic period of Nevuah died, and nowadays only the Bath Kol exists. In the New Testament, however, the word becomes more frequent. Messenger may refer to Jesus, to his Apostles and to John the Baptist, but the last book of the Old Testament, the Book of Malachi, speaks of a messenger that Christian commentators interpret as a reference to the future prophet John the Baptist. In Muslim belief, every Islamic prophet preached Islam, the beliefs of charity, prayer, pilgrimage, worship of God and fasting are believed to have been taught by every prophet who has ever lived. The Quran itself calls Islam the religion of Abraham and refers to Jacob, the Quran speaks of the Islamic prophets as being the greatest human beings of all time. A prophet, in the Muslim sense of the term, is a person whom God specially chose to teach the faith of Islam, before man was created, God had specifically selected those men whom He would use as prophets. This does not, however, mean that every prophet began to prophesy from his birth, some were called to prophesy late in life, in Muhammads case at the age of 40. Others, such as John the Baptist, were called to prophesy while still at a young age, the Quran verse 4,69 lists various virtuous groups of human beings, among whom prophets occupy the highest rank. Verse 4,69 reads, All who obey Allah and the messenger are in the company of those on whom is the Grace of Allah—of the prophets, the sincere, the witnesses, and we have made the evil ones friends to those without faith

11.
Islamic attitudes towards science
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Muslim scholars have developed a spectrum of viewpoints on science within the context of Islam. The Quran exhorts Muslims to study nature and investigate the truth, Muslims often cite verse 239 from Surah Al-Baqara —- He has taught you what you did not know. —- in support of their view that the Quran promotes the acquisition of new knowledge, for some Muslim writers, the study of science stems from Tawhid. Scientists of medieval Muslim civilization made many contributions of to modern science and this fact is celebrated in the Muslim world today. At the same time, concerns have been raised about the lack of literacy in parts of the Muslim world. Its generally accepted that there are around 750 verses in the Quran dealing with natural phenomena, many verses of the Quran ask mankind to study nature, and this has been interpreted to mean an encouragement for scientific inquiry. The investigation of the truth is one of the messages of the Quran. Historical Islamic scientists like Al-Biruni and Al-Battani derived their inspiration from verses of the Quran, mohammad Hashim Kamali has stated that scientific observation, experimental knowledge and rationality are the primary tools with which humanity can achieve the goals laid out for it in the Quran. Ziauddin Sardar built a case for Muslims having developed the foundations of science, by highlighting the repeated calls of the Quran to observe. The scientific method, as it is today, was first developed by Muslim scientists like Ibn al-Haytham and Al-Biruni. Guessoum cites Ghaleb Hasan on the definition of proof according the Quran being clear, also, such a proof cannot rely on an argument from authority, citing verse 5,104. Lastly, both assertions and rejections require a proof, according to verse 4,174, the philosopher Muhammad Iqbal considered the Qurans methodology and epistemology to be empirical and rational. Salam also held the opinion that the Quran and the Islamic spirit of study, the religion Islam has its own world view system including beliefs about ultimate reality, epistemology, ontology, ethics, purpose, etc. Muslims believe that the Quran is the revelation of God for the guidance of humankind. Science is the pursuit of knowledge and understanding of the natural and social world following a systematic methodology based on evidence. It is a system of acquiring knowledge based on empiricism, experimentation and methodological naturalism, in the history of science, science in the Muslim world refers to the science developed under Islamic civilization between the 8th and 16th centuries, during what is known as the Islamic Golden Age. It is also known as Arabic science since the majority of texts during this period were written in Arabic, a number of modern scholars such as Fielding H. In al-Bukharis and Muslims collection of sahih hadith it is said, There is no disease that Allah has created and this culminated in the work of Ibn al-Nafis, who discovered the pulmonary circulation in 1242 and used his discovery as evidence for the orthodox Islamic doctrine of bodily resurrection

12.
Quran reading
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Quran reading is the reading aloud, reciting, or chanting of portions of the Quran. The reciter is called a tālī, murattil, mujawwid, or most commonly a qari, recitation should be done according to rules of pronunciation, intonation, and caesuras established by the Islamic prophet Muhammad, though first recorded in the eighth century CE. The most popular reading is that of Hafs on the authority of asim, skilled readers may read professionally for mosques in cities. The Quran is marked with symbols, circles, rectangles, dashes and letters. These are written above, below, or beside the letters of the alphabet and they indicate the pronunciation of consonants, whether the blending of neighboring or adjacent consonants is allowed, and where recitation pauses and caesuras are forbidden and possible. In this last respect their function is analogous to that of Biblical cantillation marks, despite the fact proper pronunciation is essential for reading the Quran an understanding the text is also appreciated and encouraged in many ways. Motivation for reading and knowing the meaning is related with interest which again shape readers engagement in the society, Quran Reading with Tajweed Habib Hassan Touma. The Music of the Arabs, trans, gade, Anna M. Perfection Makes Practice, Learning, Emotion, and the Recited Qur’ân in Indonesia. Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press,2004

13.
Tajwid
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Tajweed, sometimes rendered as tajwid, refers to the rules governing pronunciation during recitation of the Quran. The term is derived from the triliteral root j-w-d meaning to make well, make better, tajweed is mustahab when reciting the Quran to the best of ones ability. The Arabic alphabet has 28 basic letters, plus hamzah, ا ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ہ و ي‎ The Arabic word for the is ال al-. The lām in al- is pronounced if the letter after it is qamarīyah, but if the letter after it is shamsīyah, solar and lunar became descriptions for these instances as the words for the moon and the sun are examples of this rule. The manner of articulation refers to the different attributes of the letters, some of the characteristics have opposites, while some are individual. An example of a characteristic would be the fricative consonant sound called ṣafīr, the emphatic consonants خ ص ض ط ظ غ ق, known as mufakhkham letters, are pronounced with a “heavy accent”. This is done by either pharyngealization /ˤ/, i. e. pronounced while squeezing ones voicebox, if its vowel sound is cancelled, such as by a sukūn or the end of a sentence, then it is light when the first preceding voweled letter has a kasrah. It is heavy if the first preceding voweled letter is accompanied by a fatḥah or ḍammah, the number of morae then becomes two. If these are at the end of the sentence, such as in all the verses in al-Fatiha, then the number of morae can be more than two, but must be consistent from verse to verse. Additionally, if there is a sign over the mudd letter, it is held for four or five morae when followed by a hamzah. For example, the end of the last verse in al-Fatiha has a six-mora maddah due to the shaddah on the ل, صِرَٰطَ ٱلَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ ٱلمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ ٱلضَّآلِّين ‎ Nūn sākinah refers to instances where the letter nūn is accompanied by a tanwīn or sukun sign. Additionally, it is pronounced in a ghunnah, there is also a ghunnah if it is followed by و م ي or another ن. Idghām only applies between two words and not in the middle of a word, consider the nūn that is suppressed in the second verse of the chapter Al-Falaq, مِنْ شَرِّ مَا خَلَقَ‎ The term mīm sākinah refers to instances where the letter mīm is accompanied by a sukun. The five qalqalah letters are the consonants ق ط د ج ب, qalqalah is the addition of a slight bounce or reduced vowel sound /ə/ to the consonant whose vowel sound is otherwise cancelled, such as by a sukūn, shaddah, or the end of sentence. The lesser bounce occurs when the letter is in the middle of a word or at the end of the word and it is indicated with the diacritic waṣlah, a small ṣād on the letter alif. In Arabic, words starting with alif not using a hamzah are capable to get a waṣlah, waqf is the Arabic pausa rule, all words whose last letter end on a harakah become mute when being the last word of a sentence. In the case of the proper name عمرو /ʕamrun/, it is pronounced /ʕamr/ in pausa, and in fact, عمرو is a triptote. Understanding the origin of the word, one should understand that the Qurʼan is not the word of man

14.
Hafiz (Quran)
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Hafiz, literally meaning guardian or memorizer, depending on the context, is a term used by Muslims for someone who has completely memorized the Quran. The Islamic prophet Muhammad lived in the 6th Century CE, in Arabia in a time when few people were literate, the Arabs preserved their histories, genealogies, and poetry by memory alone. The Arabic writing of the time was a script, that did not include vowel markings or other diacritics needed to distinguish between words. Hence if there was any question as to the pronunciation of a verse, the huffaz were also highly appreciated as reciters, whose intoned words were accessible even to the illiterate. Memorization required no expensive materials, at the time there was no paper in the Muslim world, even after Caliph Uthman ibn Affan collected and organized the Quran circa 650-656 CE, recitation of the Quran was still honored and encouraged. There are numerous traditions of recitation, most huffaz know only one version, but some experts can recite in several traditions. However this does not change the meaning of the content, the Quran is divided into 114 Surahs, containing 6,236 verses. This process generally takes between 3 and 6 years part-time together with schooling, most huffaz have studied as children in special Islamic schools or madrasahs, being instructed in tajwid and vocalisation as well as committing the Quran to memory. Huffaz are highly respected within the Islamic community and they are privileged to use the title Hafiz before their names. They are tested on their knowledge, for example, in one test they are asked to continue the recitation of a passage taken randomly from the Quran. As they do not know which passage will be chosen, they must know the text in order to be sure of passing. In another test, a would-be hafiz might be asked to recite verses containing a word or phrase. In the classical Arabic lexicon, the word hafiz was not traditionally used to refer to one who had memorized the Quran, instead, the word used was hamil Hafiz was used for the scholars of hadith, specifically one who had committed 100,000 hadiths to memory. Having memorised the Quran, the hafiz or hafiza must then ensure they do not forget it, to ensure perfect recall of all the learned verses requires constant practice. The memorisation of the Quran was important to Muslims in the past and is also in the present, yearly, thousands of students master the Quran and complete the book with interpretation and also memorisation. The Quran is perhaps the book, religious or secular. For Muslims who are attempting to memorize certain suras but are unfamiliar with the Arabic script, the most important sura to memorize is Al-Fatiha. All praise and thanks be to Allah, there is none worthy of worship except Allah

15.
Tarteel
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Tarteel is the Arabic word for hymnody, the term is commonly translated in reference to the Quran as recitation, in proper order and with no haste. This word is used in chapter 73 verse 4 of the Quran, the Arabic word translated as slow, measured rhythmic tones is tarteel. It is also the used to define the rules explaining proper recitation of the Quran in the manner that Gabriel revealed it to Muhammad. While reciting one has to keep in mind the fasl and wasl of words, the fourth caliph Ali ibn Abi Talib said that tarteel is delivering words according to their makharij. Saying the words clearly and slowly and reciting with understanding and uttering the contents correctly is of prime importance. One should neither recite the Quran with such speed that it might become incomprehensible and bore the listener nor the recitation be so slow that it takes a long time, according to him Following the middle path is a virtue or in Arabic, Khayru l-umūri awsaṭuhā

16.
Quran translations
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Translations of the Quran are interpretations of the scripture of Islam in languages other than Arabic. Quran was originally written in the Arabic language and has translated into most major African, Asian and European languages. Translation of the Quran has always been a problematic and difficult issue in Islamic theology, according to modern Islamic theology, the Quran is a revelation very specifically in Arabic, and so it should only be recited in Quranic Arabic. Translations into other languages are necessarily the work of humans and so, according to Muslims, since these translations necessarily subtly change the meaning, they are often called interpretations or translation of the meanings. For instance, Pickthall called his translation The Meaning of the Glorious Koran rather than simply The Koran, the task of translation is not an easy one, some native Arab-speakers will confirm that some Quranic passages are difficult to understand even in the original Arabic. A part of this is the difficulty of any translation, in Arabic, as in other languages. There is always an element of human judgement involved in understanding and translating a text and this factor is made more complex by the fact that the usage of words has changed a great deal between classical and modern Arabic. As a result, even Quranic verses which seem perfectly clear to native speakers accustomed to modern vocabulary, the original meaning of a Quranic passage will also be dependent on the historical circumstances of the prophet Muhammads life and early community in which it originated. Investigating that context usually requires a knowledge of hadith and sirah. This introduces an element of uncertainty which cannot be eliminated by any linguistic rules of translation. The first translation of the Quran was performed by Salman the Persian, according to Islamic tradition contained in the hadith, Emperor Negus of Abyssinia and Byzantine Emperor Heraclius received letters from Muhammad containing verses from the Quran. However, during Muhammads lifetime, no passage from the Quran was ever translated into these languages nor any other, the second known translation was into Greek and was used by Nicetas Byzantius, a scholar from Constantinople, in his Refutation of Quran written between 855 and 870. However, we know nothing about who and for what purpose had made this translation and it is however very probable that it was a complete translation. The first fully attested complete translations of the Quran were done between the 10th and 12th centuries in Persian language, the Samanid king, Mansur I, ordered a group of scholars from Khorasan to translate the Tafsir al-Tabari, originally in Arabic, into Persian. Later in the 11th century, one of the students of Abu Mansur Abdullah al-Ansari wrote a complete tafsir of the Quran in Persian, in the 12th century, Abu Hafs Omar al-Nasafi translated the Quran into Persian. The manuscripts of all three books have survived and have published several times. In 1936, translations in 102 languages were known, robertus Ketenensis produced the first Latin translation of the Quran in 1143. His version was entitled Lex Mahumet pseudoprophete, the translation was made at the behest of Peter the Venerable, abbot of Cluny, and currently exists in the Bibliothèque de lArsenal in Paris

17.
English translations of the Quran
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The Quran has been translated into English many times. The first few translations were made in the 17th and 19th centuries, the Alcoran, Translated out of Arabic into French. By the Andrew du Ryer, Lord of Malezair, and Resident for the French King and this, however, was a translation of the French translation LAlcoran de Mahomet by the Sieur du Ryer, Lord of Malezair. Koran, commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed, tr. into English immediately from the original Arabic, with explanatory notes, to which is prefixed a preliminary discourse by George Sale London, Printed by C. The first scholarly translation of the Quran based primarily on the Latin translation of Louis Maracci, George Sales two-volume translation was to remain the most widely available English translation over the next 200 years, and is still in print today, with release of a recent 2009 edition. The next major English translation of note was by John Rodwell, Rector of St. Ethelburga, London, released in 1861 and it was soon followed in 1880 with a two-volume edition by E. H. Palmer, a Cambridge scholar, who was entrusted with the preparation of the new translation for Max Mullers Sacred Books of the East series, the Quran by Mirza Abul Fazl, Arabic Text and English Translation Arranged Chronologically with an Abstract. Mirza Abul Fazl, was a native of Allahabad, India and he was the first Muslim to present a translation of the Quran in English along with the original Arabic text. The Holy Quran by Maulana Muhammad Ali, an Ahmadi Muslim scholar of the Quran, Hadith and religion of Islam, Ali gives copious explanatory notes, introductions to each chapter, and a general preface-introduction of nearly 70 pages. The Meaning of the Glorious Quran by Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, an English convert to Islam penned this translation at the behest of the Emir of Hyderabad while on a sojourn in India. Pickthalls widely printed translation was regarded as an important milestone in the course of Koranic interpretation by later esteemed Quran translator A. J. Arberry, who noted a few problems with Pickthalls verse numbering. The Holy Quran, Translation and Commentary by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and this translation is widely used in many English-speaking countries and was the most popular translation before the Interpretation of the Meanings of the Noble Quran was published in 1999. The Quran, Translated, with a Critical Re-arrangement of the Surahs by Richard Bell. A. J. Arberry, in the preface to his own translation of the Quran, notes, Dr Bell was a most erudite scholar of Arabic, and had devoted many years to his critical re-arrangement of the Surahs. He quite literally took the Koran to pieces and put it again, his meticulous reconstruction extending as far as individual verses. The Koran Interpreted by Arthur Arberry, the first English translation by an academic scholar of Arabic, Islam and Sufism. For many years the standard for English translations, this rendering of the Quran makes a special attempt to reproduce something of the rhythms

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Ahmadiyya translations of the Quran
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The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has translated the Quran into over 70 languages of the world. Portions of the scripture have been translated into other languages. The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement has produced translations into at least 7 languages, the period of the late 1980s and the early 1990s saw an acceleration in the number of translations being produced by the Ahmadiyya movement. Some of the earliest translations were produced by Ahmadi Muslim scholars, all translations are published alongside the Arabic text. The translations of the Quran authored by Ahmadi Muslim scholars always feature translated verses alongside the original Arabic text, before the translations are published, they are checked, scrutinized and proof-read by a wide array of individuals for errors. A similar procedure is undertaken when revised versions of the translations are produced, in particular, guidance is sought from the caliph of the Community with regards to textual and other linguistic difficulties. Since the majority of the Quran translations have been available from the 1980s, most translations have sought advice from Caliph IV. The translations of the Quran by Ahmadi Muslims have been listed below, the list has been divided by regions of the world. The translations produced by the main Ahmadiyya Muslim Community have been numbered, translations produced by members of the Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement have been starred in place of numbering for the purpose of identification. List of translations of the Quran English translations of the Quran

19.
History of the Quran
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The history of the Quran refers to the oral revelation of the Quran to Islamic prophet Muhammad and its subsequent written compilation into a manuscript. It spans several decades and forms an important part of early Islamic history, throughout his life, Muhammad continued to have revelations until before his death in 632. The Quran we see today was compiled into book format by Uthman, for this reason, the Quran as it exists today is also known as the Uthmanic codex. Quran 7,157. According to Bukhari, Muhammads wife Aisha described that the first Quranic revelation occurred when angel Gabriel visited Muhammad, Muhammad responded ma ana bīqāreu, which could be translated into a number of ways, I do not read or what am I to read/recite. And your Sustainer is the most Beautiful, after this Muhammad continued sporadically over a period of twenty-three years to have revelations, until shortly before his death in 11/632. Muslims believe that Gabriel brought the word of God to Muhammad verbatim, the Quran emphasizes that Muhammad was required only to receive the sacred text and that he had no authority to change it. It is also believed that God did not make himself known through the revelations, there is nothing in the Quran that suggests that Muhammad saw God during his revelations. For Muhammad, the revelations were real and he believed the context was objective, when asked about the experience of revelation Muhammad reported, sometimes it is revealed like the ringing of a bell. This form of inspiration is the hardest of all and then it passes off after I have grasped what is inspired. Sometimes the Angel comes in the form of a man and talks to me, at times, it was also reported that the experience was painful for Muhammad. For example, he had been saying, Never once did I receive a revelation without thinking that my soul had been torn away from me. After Muhammad would receive revelations he would recite it to his companions. Before the Quran was commonly available in form, speaking it from memory prevailed as the mode of teaching it to others. The practice of memorizing the whole Quran is still practiced among Muslims, millions of people have memorized the entire Quran in its original Arabic. This fact, taken in the context of 7th-century Arabia, was not an extraordinary feat, People of that time had a penchant for recited poetry and had developed their skills in memorization to a remarkable degree. Events and competitions that featured the recitation of poetry were of great interest. People questioned the nature and modes of Muhammad’s revelations, the Meccans of Muhammad judged the Quranic revelation based on their understanding of ‘inspiration’. For them, poetry was closely connected to inspiration from a spiritual source

20.
Samarkand Kufic Quran
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The Samarkand Kufic Quran is an 8th or 9th century manuscript Quran written in the territory of modern Iraq in the Kufic script. Today it is kept in the Hast Imam library, in Tashkent, in local Uzbek tradition, it is said to have belonged to the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan. Based on orthographic and palaeographic studies, the manuscript probably dates the 8th or 9th century, radio-carbon dating showed a 95. 4% probability of a date between 765 and 855. The copy of the Quran is traditionally considered to be one of a commissioned by the third caliph Uthman, however. In 651,19 years after the death of the Islamic Prophet, Muhammad, Uthman commissioned a committee to produce a standard copy of the text of the Quran. Five of these authoritative Qurans were sent to the major Muslim cities of the era, and Uthman kept one for his own use in Medina, although the Samarkand Quran is most likely not one of those copies. The only other surviving copy was thought to be the one held in Topkapı Palace in Turkey, but studies have shown that the Topkapı manuscript is not from the 7th century. Uthman was succeeded by Ali, who took the uthmanic Quran to Kufa, the subsequent history of the Quran is known only from legends. According to one of them, when Tamerlane destroyed the area, he took the Quran to his capital, Samarkand, as a treasure. According to another, the Quran was brought from the caliph of Rum to Samarkand by Khoja Ahrar and it attracted the attention of Orientalists and eventually a facsimile edition was published in Saint-Petersburg in 1905. The 50 copies soon became rarities, the first thorough description and dating of the manuscript was undertaken by the Russian Orientalist Shebunin in 1891. After the October Revolution, Vladimir Lenin, in an act of goodwill to the Muslims of Russia, gave the Quran to the people of Ufa, Bashkortostan. After repeated appeals by the people of the Turkestan ASSR, the Quran was returned to Central Asia, to Tashkent, in 1924, where it has since remained. The parchment manuscript now is held in the library of the Telyashayakh Mosque, in the old Hast-Imam area of Tashkent, Uzbekistan, close to the grave of Kaffal Shashi, a folio containing a page from the Al-Anbiya is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The manuscript is incomplete, it begins in the middle of verse 7 of the second sura, the manuscript has between eight and twelve lines to the page and, showing its antiquity, the text is devoid of vocalisation. Topkapi manuscript Sanaa palimpsest Codex Parisino-petropolitanus W. Ouspensky, S. Pissaref, St. Pétersbourg, Institut Archéologique de St. Pétersbourg. Публичной Библиотеки // Записки Восточного отделения Императорского Русского археологического общества, memory of the World Register - Nomination Form Uzbekistan - Holy Koran Mushaf of Othman

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Sana'a manuscript
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The Sanaa palimpsest, dubbed Ṣanʿā’1, is one of the oldest Quranic manuscripts in existence. It was identified in 1981, amongst a cache preserving numerous Quranic and non-Quranic fragments, discovered in Yemen in 1972, the manuscript is written on parchment, and comprises two layers of text. The upper text largely conforms to the standard Uthmanic Quran, whereas the text contains many variants to the standard text. A partial reconstruction of the text was published in 2012. A radiocarbon analysis has dated the parchment to before 671 AD with a 99% accuracy, in 1972, construction workers renovating a wall in the attic of the Great Mosque of Sanaa in Yemen came across large quantities of old manuscripts and parchments, many of which were deteriorated. Not realizing their significance, the gathered up the documents, packed them away into some twenty potato sacks. Qadhi Ismail al-Akwa, then the president of the Yemeni Antiquities Authority, the preserved fragments comprise Quranic and non-Quranic material. Restoration of the began in 1980 under the supervision of the Yemeni Department for Antiquities. It was funded by the Cultural Section of the German Foreign Ministry, the find includes 12,000 Quranic parchment fragments. All of them, except 1500–2000 fragments, were assigned to 926 distinct Quranic manuscripts as of 1997, none is complete and many contain only a few folios apiece. Albrecht Noth was the director of the project, work on the ground began in 1981 and continued through the end of 1989, when the project terminated with the end of funding. Gerd R. Puin was the director beginning with 1981. His involvement came to an end in 1985, when Hans-Caspar Graf von Bothmer took over as the local director, Bothmer left Ṣanā in the following year, but continued to run the project from Germany, traveling to the site almost every year. Beginning in 1982, Ursula Dreibholz served as the conservator for this project and she completed the restoration of the manuscripts. She also designed the permanent storage, collated many parchment fragments to identify distinct Quranic manuscripts, the manuscripts are located in the House of Manuscripts, the Dār al-Makhṭūṭāt, in Ṣanā, Yemen. After 1989, Bothmer would visit the collection periodically, in the winter of 1996–7, he microfilmed all of the parchment fragments that have been assigned to distinct Quranic manuscripts. Of the remaining 1500–2000 fragments, he microfilmed a group of 280, the microfilms are available in Ṣanā in the House of Manuscripts. The Sanaa palimpsest is one of the most important manuscripts of the collection in the world and this palimpsest has two layers of text, both of which are Quranic and written in the Hijazi script

22.
Topkapi manuscript
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The Topkapi manuscript is an early manuscript of the Quran dated to the late 1st century / early 2nd century AH This manuscript is kept in the Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Turkey. It is attributed to Uthman Ibn Affan Similar illuminations can be found in the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, the size of this manuscript is 41 cm x 46 cm. It contains more than 99% of the text of the Quran, with only two pages lacking, this manuscript is the closest to the complete text of the Quran. Mehmed Ali Pasha, Governor of Egypt, sent this manuscript to the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II as a gift in the 19th century, Quran History of the Quran Sanaa manuscript Codex Parisino-petropolitanus

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Birmingham Quran manuscript
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The parchment on which two leaves of an early Quranic manuscript coveted by the University of Birmingham are written, were radiocarbon dated in 2015 between 568 and 645. The manuscript is part of the Mingana Collection of Middle Eastern manuscripts, the manuscript is written in ink on parchment, using a Arabic Hijazi script and is still clearly legible. The leaves preserve parts of Surahs 19 to 20 and it was on display at the Birmingham University, Bramall Music Building, from 2-25 October 2015 and subsequently at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery until 5 August 2016. The Birmingham leaves, now catalogued as Mingana 1572a, are folio size, the two surviving leaves were separated in the original codex by a number of missing folios containing the intervening verses of surahs 18 and 19. There are no marks to indicate short vowels, but consonants are occasionally differentiated with oblique dashes. The text is out in the format that was to become standard for complete Quran manuscripts, with chapter divisions indicated by a decorated line. Although the Quran text witnessed in the two Birmingham leaves largely conforms to the standard text their orthography differs, especially in respect of the writing of the letter alif. Equally, the application of intermittent dashes to differentiate consonants varies from the counterpart pointing in the text at four places. Subsequent ultraviolet testing of the leaves has confirmed no underwriting, and they dated the parchment to between AD568 and 645, within a 95. 4% confidence interval, with a sample reference OxA-29418. The results will be published in datelist number 36 of the journal Archaeometry, the proposed radiocarbon date for the manuscript is significant, as the prophet Muhammad lived from c. 570 to 632. And it seems to open the possibility that the Uthmanic redaction took place earlier than had been thought – or even, conceivably. In any case, this – along with the beauty of the content. This means that the parts of the Qur’an that are written on this parchment can, with a degree of confidence, be dated to less than two decades after Muhammad’s death. In that study, the Paris Quran, BnF Arabe 328, is compared with Qurans in Istanbul, and concluded as having been written around the end of the seventh century and the beginning of the eighth century. Lumbard of Brandeis University has written in the Huffington Post in support of the proposed by the Birmingham scholars. Whereas, on the hand, counterpart accounts of Quranic origins within classical Islamic traditions stand up well in the light of ongoing scientific discoveries

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Tafsir
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Tafsir is the Arabic word for exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of tafsir is a mufassir, a Quranic tafsir will often explain content and provide places and times, not contained in Quranic verses, as well as give the different views and opinions of scholars on the verse. The word tafsīr is derived from the Arabic root, F-S-R which means to explain, to expound, to disclose. In Islamic contexts, it is defined as understanding and uncovering the Will of Allah which has been conveyed by the Quranic text, by means of the Arabic language and one’s own knowledge. As the Quran was revealed to him, he recited the verses to his companions and this was one of Muhammads responsibilities. Elements of Muhammads explanations are, Clarifying verses whose intents are not understood Indication of names, places, times etc. These interpretations have not been collected independently in a book, rather, they have recorded in hadith books, under the topic of tafsir. After the death of Muhammad, his companions, the sahabah, undertook the task of interpretation, most of the sahabah, including Abu Bakr, refrained from commenting with their personal views, and only narrated comments by Muhammad. Others including ibn Abbas used their own knowledge from the Arabic language to interpret the Quran, by the time of the next generations ensuing the Sahabah, the tabiin scholars started using a wide range of sources for tafsir. The whole of the Quran is interpreted, and narrations are separated from tafsir into separate books, grammatical explanations and historical data are preserved within these books, personal opinions are recorded, whether accepted or rejected. The mufasireen listed 15 fields that must be mastered before one can interpret the Quran. Classical Arabic, Is how one learns the meaning of each word, mujahid ibn Jabr said, “It is not permissible for one who holds faith in Allah and the Day of Judgment to speak on the Quran without learning classical Arabic. Arabic Philology, Is important because any change in the diacritical marks affects the meaning, Arabic morphology, is important because changes in the configuration of verb and noun forms change the meaning. Ibn Faris said, “A person who misses out on Arabic morphology has missed out on a lot. ”Al-Ishtiqaaq and this is the science of etymology which explains the reciprocal relation and radical composition between the root and derived word. For example, masih derives from the root word masah which means “to feel something and to something with a wet hand, ”. Ilm al-Bayaan, is the science by which one learns the similes, metaphors, metonymies, zuhoor, ilm al-Badi’, The science by which one learns to interpret sentences which reveal the beauty and eloquence of the spoken and written word. The above-mentioned three sciences are categorized as Ilm-ul-Balagha and it is one of the most important sciences to a mufassir because he is able to reveal the miraculous nature of the Quran through these three sciences. Ilm al-Qiraat, Dialecticisms of the different readings of the Quran and this science is important because one qiraat of the Quran may differ in meaning from another, and one learns to favor one reading over another based on the difference in the meanings

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Naskh (tafsir)
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Neither the Quran nor the sayings of Muhammad state which verses stand abrogated. The possibility of abrogation between these two sources of Islam has been a more contentious issue. Seventy-one of the Qurans one hundred and fourteen surah contain abrogated verses according to one estimate, Muslim exegetes and jurists have disagreed and disputed the number of verses of the Quran and sunnah in the Hadiths recognized as abrogated. Naskh refers to the theory of abrogation for the Quran. Through Naskh, the verse as well as the superseded verse are determined for the purposes of formulating Sharia. Naskh literally means obliteration, cancellation, transfer, suppression, suspension depending on the context and it is also referred to as Mansukh doctrine. Naskh shares the root as the words appearing in the phrase al-nāsikh wal-mansūkh. The stem n-s-kh occurs four times within the Qurān in verses 7,154,45,29,22,52, and 2,106. The first two come in the context of texts and scribal activity, in the writing thereon. The verse 2,106 and 16,101 of the Quran are known as the verses of abrogation, any revelation We cause to be superseded or forgotten, We replace with something better or similar. Do you not know that God has power over everything, when We substitute one revelation for another, – and Allah knows best what He reveals, – they say, Thou art but a forger, but most of them understand not. These two revealed verses establish the principle of abrogation of a verse and its substitution with a new verse. This principle has been accepted and applied by vast majority of Islamic jurists on both the Quran and the Sunnah. Another verse 13,39 in the Quran, states Allah doth blot out or confirm what He pleaseth, scholars consider this verse as further confirming the two major modes of abrogation. Another significant occurrence of Naskh is in verse 22,52, in Tabarīs interpretation, states John Burton, some of the early verses that the devil had cast into the Quran is precisely what God removed from it and suppressed through later verses. Ibn Taymiyyah similarly identified two forms of Naskh and it does not indicate the occurrence in the divine revelations of the naskh of what God considers to be part of his truth. These Islamic scholars relegated verse 22,52 of the Quran to merely lexical significance, the Quran was revealed by Muhammad over 22 years, while sunnah in the Hadiths traditionally are held as the sayings and practices of Muhammad over this period. From the early period of Islams history, scholars noted that certain verses and later verses covered the same topic

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Esoteric interpretation of the Quran
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Esoteric interpretation of the Quran, also known as Sufi interpretation and taʾwīl, is the allegorical interpretation of the Quran or the quest for its hidden, inner meanings. It was a synonym of conventional interpretation in its earliest use, esoteric interpretations do not usually contradict the conventional interpretations, instead, they discuss the inner levels of meaning of the Quran. The term batin refers to the inner or esoteric meaning of a sacred text, esoteric interpretations are found in Sufi, Shia, Sunni, and Bahai interpretations of the Quran. A hadith which states that the Quran has a meaning, and that this inner meaning conceals a yet deeper inner meaning. The exoteric aspect is the word, the law. Esoteric interpretations are more suggestive than declarative, they are rather than explanations. However the Quran says about doing this, As for those in whose hearts is deviation, they follow that of it which is unspecific, seeking discord. And no one knows its interpretation except Allah, but those firm in knowledge say, We believe in it. And no one will be reminded except those of understanding, only a few examples are given here. In 7,172 the Quran states, And when Your Lord summoned the descendants of Adam, thus you cannot say on the Day of Resurrection we were unaware of this. According to the above mentioned verse, before creation, God called the future humanity out of the loins of the not-yet-created Adam and addressed them with the words, and they answered, Yes, we witness it. In Islam, this primordial covenant is the foundation between God and humankind. Along the way, this esoteric being damages a boat belonging to poor people, moses is so disturbed that he couldnt stop protesting despite his agreement to keep silent. And in 56,79 the Quran describes itself, This is an honorable Quran, in a book hidden, in the exoteric sense, the Quran requires Muslims to perform ritual cleansing of their hands before touching it. Esoteric interpreters were of the opinion that it implies that individuals with spiritual purity are able to grasp the meaning of the Quran. Attar of Nishapur, the 12th-century mystical poet, gives an interpretation of the Quranic story of the descent of Adam. According to Attar, the man whose mind and vision are ensnared by heavens grace must forfeit that same grace, occasionally a verse may be interpreted in a sense very different from its conventional meaning. For example, Hamadani in his book Tamheedat interprets 104, 6–7 which conventionally refers to the punishment in hell, Hamadani interprets 14,48, which conventionally describes the day of judgment as a description of the moment of spiritual awakening or enlightenment

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Criticism of the Quran
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The Quran is viewed to be the scriptural foundation of Islam and is believed by Muslims to have been revealed, without issue, to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel. Criticism of the Quran has frequently occurred since western scholarship has looked to decipher, understand, issues relating to the authenticity and morality of the Quran are criticized. It is not a transcript, however, our present Quran is the result of an edition prepared under the orders of Uthman and those Uthmanic clues are fragmentary, however, and large invented portions might well have been added to our Quran or authentic material deleted. Most Muslims believe that the Quran is the word of God as recited to the Islamic prophet Muhammad through the angel Gabriel. Muhammad, according to tradition, recited perfectly what the angel Gabriel revealed to him for his companions to write down, Muslims believe that the wording of the Quranic text available today corresponds exactly to that revealed to Muhammad in the years 610–632. It spanned a period of twenty years and, as soon as it was believed to be transmitted to Muhammad by Archangel Gabriel. It is traditionally believed to have written down during Muhammads life. Since the official compilation was completed several decades after Muhammads death, bucaille believed that this did not give rise to any problems of this Qurans authenticity. There was nothing easier, when required to defend any religious or political system, thabit said, The Prophet died and the Qur’an had not been assembled into a single place. It is reported… from Ali who said, May the mercy of Allah be upon Abu Bakr and it is reported… from Ibn Buraidah who said, The first of those to collect the Quran into a mushaf was Salim, the freed slave of Abu Hudhaifah. The Sanaa manuscript contains older portions of the Quran showing variances different from the Uthman copy, the Sanaa palimpsest is one of the most important manuscripts of the collection in the world. This palimpsest has two layers of text, both of which are Quranic and written in the Hijazi script, while the upper text is almost identical with the modern Qurans in use, the lower text contains significant diversions from the standard text. For example, in sura 2, verse 87, the text has wa-qaffaynā alā āthārihi whereas the standard text has wa-qaffaynā min badihi. The Sanaa manuscript has the same verses and the same order of verses as the standard Quran. The order of the suras in the Sanaa codex is different from the order in the standard Quran, such variants are similar to the ones reported for the Quran codices of Companions such as Ibn Masud and Ubay ibn Kab. However, variants occur much more frequently in the Sanaa codex and they emphasize that while Muhammad was alive, Quranic texts were written without chapter decoration, marked verse endings or use of coloured inks, and did not follow any standard sequence of surahs. They maintain that those features were introduced into Quranic practice in the time of the Caliph Uthman, and so the Birmingham leaves could have been written later, but not earlier. In that study, the Paris Quran, BnF Arabe 328, is compared with Qurans in Istanbul, and concluded as having been written around the end of the seventh century and the beginning of the eighth century

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I'jaz
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In Islam, ijaz or inimitability of the Quran is the doctrine which holds that the Quran has a miraculous quality, both in content and in form, that no human speech can match. According to this doctrine the Quran is a miracle and its inimitability is the proof granted to Muhammad in authentication of his prophetic status. The concept of miraculousness of the Quran was understood as soon as it was revealed by Muhammed to the Arabs beginning on 22 December 609 CE, when Muhammad was 40 years of age. According to Sophia Vasalou, a scholar in theology, the reports about the Arabs bewildered reception of the Quran is crucial in the argument. The Arabs, upon hearing it, were lost for words in trying to classify it, is it poetry, is it magic. is it soothsaying. They could not find a form to which the Quran corresponded Vasalou adds. The concept of inimitability originates in the Quran, in five different verses, opponents are challenged to produce something like the Quran. Say, Bring you then ten chapters like unto it, and call whomsoever you can, other than God, or do they say he has fabricated it. Say bring then a chapter like unto it, and call upon whom you can besides God, or do they say he has fabricated it. Let them then produce a recital like unto it if they speak the truth, and if you are in doubt concerning that which We have sent down to our servant, then produce a chapter of the like. In the verses cited, Muhammads opponents are invited to try to produce a text like the Quran, or even ten chapters and it is understood among Muslims that that challenge has not been met. The literary quality of the Quran has been acknowledged by Muslim and some non-Muslim scholars. And there is evidence that Muslims accepted Islam on the basis of evaluating the Quran as a text that all human production. They did not question this, what they rejected was Qurans ideas, especially monotheism, numerous scholars devoted time to finding out why the Quran was inimitable. The majority of opinions was around eloquence of the Quran both in wording and meaning as its speech does not form to poetry nor prose commonly expressed in all languages, nonliguistic approaches focus on the inner meanings of the Quran. He thinks that it is the combination of language, ideas, Al Jurjani argued that the inimitability of the Quran is a linguistic phenomenon and proposed that the Quran has a degree of excellence unachievable by human beings. Al Jurjani believed that Qurans eloquence must be a special quality in the manner of its stylistic arrangement. He studied the Quran with literary proofs and examined the various literary features and he rejected the idea that the words and meaning of a literary work can be separated

29.
Hadith of the Quran and Sunnah
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Quran and Sunnah is a saying attributed to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, namely I have left among you two matters by holding fast to which, you shall never be misguided, the Book of God and my Sunna. It is an often quoted saying regarding the sources of Islam, the authenticity of this hadith is rejected by many Shia. Hadith literature refers to the tradition about the words and deeds of Muhammad. The statement that Islam has these two sources has been attributed to Muhammad, the hadith in the Six Authentic Books are generally accept as authentic throughout Islam. The Quran and Sunnah hadith is reported in books as having been said during Muhammads Farewell Sermon atop Mount Arafat after his Last Pilgrimage. Slightly varied versions are cited in many Sunni hadith works, take their name from the sunnah, meaning those who follow the example of the Prophet. Prof. Fatih Okumus refers to Muhammad as the walking Qur’an, as the sayings and deeds of Muhammad were reported via many different sources, there was disagreement about what constituted sunnah, and how that affected what should be shariah. In the ninth century Al-Shafi‘i took the view that the Quran superseded sunnah, in this he rejected the version of the above hadith that said the Quran and sunnah were equal sources of guidance. Others, notably Ibn Kathir in his book Al-Bidaya wal-Nihaya, took the position that sunnah as later revelation should take precedence over the Quran. Both Sunnis and Shias accept the authenticity of the related Hadith of the two weighty things, in this hadith, Muhammad referred to the Quran and Ahl al-Bayt as the two weighty things. Although the hadith is accepted by both Sunnis and Shias, the two differ on the exact wording of what Muhammad said, as well as how to interpret these words. The Shias use the Hadith of the two weighty things to prove their claim that Muhammad meant for all his successors to be from his own family, the Sunnis reject this view and believe in a different interpretation of this related hadith. The Sunnis and the Shias also disagree about what constitutes the Sunnah, the Sunnis generally accept this hadith, but narrowly define sunnah as the sayings and deeds of Muhammad. Although some include the implied approvals of Muhammad, at the same time, Shias do agree with the meaning of the Hadith, even if they deem it a fabrication. The Shias believe in following the Sunnah of Muhammad, but they say that this is possible via the Ahl al-Bayt. The Shias believe that Muhammad said Hadith al-Thaqalayn multiple times in multiple settings in multiple wordings. They argue that Muhammad said Hadith al-Thaqalayn at Mount Arafat during his Farewell Sermon, at Ghadir Khumm, in the mosque of Medinah, during his last illness, and at many other places and times. The Shias believe that Muhammad said this hadith so many times because he wanted to stress how important it was that the Muslims only take his own descendants as leaders

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Quranism
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Quranism describes any form of Islam that accepts the Quran as revelation but rejects the religious authority, and/or authenticity of, the Hadith collections. Quranists follow the Quran alone, they believe that its message is clear and complete, and they claim that the Hadith literature was forged, as it had been written 250 years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. There are significant differences between Quranists in their interpretation of Islam, Quranism is similar to movements in other religions such as the Karaite movement of Judaism and the Sola scriptura view of Protestant Christianity. Hadith rejection has also associated with Muslim modernists. Adherents of Quranism are referred to as Quranists, or people of the Quran and this should not be confused with Ahle-e-Quran, which is an organisation formed by Abdullah Chakralawi. Quranists may also refer to simply as Muslims, Submitters. Quranists believe, based on historical accounts, that the Quranist sentiment dates back to the time of Muhammad. During the Abassid Caliphate, the poet, theologian, and jurist, Ibrahim an-Nazzam founded a madhhab called the Nazzamiyya that rejected the authority of hadiths and his famous student, al-Jahiz, was also critical of those who followed hadith, referring to his traditionalist opponents as al-nabita. A contemporary of an-Nazzam, al-Shafii, tried to refute the arguments of the Quranists, and Ibn Qutaybah tried to refute an-Nazzams arguments against hadith in his book tawil mukhtalif al-hadith. In South Asia during the 19th century, the Ahle Quran movement formed partially in reaction to the Ahle Hadith whom they considered to be placing too much emphasis on hadith, many Ahle Quran adherents were formerly adherents of Ahle Hadith but found themselves incapable of accepting certain hadiths. In Egypt during the early 20th century, the ideas of Quranists like Muhammad Tawfiq Sidqi grew out of Salafism i. e. a rejection of taqlid. Another difficulty in determining their prevalence is the fear of persecution due to being regarded as apostates. Ahle Qur’an is a formed by Abdullah Chakralawi, who described the Quran as ahsan hadith, meaning most perfect hadith. His movement relies entirely on the chapters and verses of the Quran, chakralawis position was that the Quran itself was the most perfect source of tradition and could be exclusively followed. According to Chakralawi, Muhammad could receive only one form of revelation, and he argues that the Quran was the only record of divine wisdom, the only source of Muhammads teachings, and that it superseded the entire corpus of hadith, which came later. In the United States it was associated with Rashad Khalifa, founder of the United Submitters International, the group popularized the phrase, The Quran, the whole Quran, and nothing but the Quran. After Khalifa declared himself the Messenger of the Covenant, he was rejected by other Muslim scholars as an apostate of Islam, later, he was assassinated in 1990 by a terrorist group. His followers believe that there is a structure in the Quran

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Shia view of the Quran
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The Shī‘ah view of the Quran has some differences from the Sunni view, but the text of the Quran is exactly identical. While there is a belief that the Shī‘ah disputed the validity of the Uthmanic codex. Since the 10th century, only a total of seven Shī‘ah scholars believed in omissions in the Uthmanic codex, the Shī‘ah use the same Quran as Sunni Muslims, however they do not believe that it was first compiled by Uthman ibn Affan. The Shī‘ah believe that the Quran was gathered and compiled by Muhammad during his lifetime and this completed version of the Quran was kept next to the pulpit of Muhammad within the Mosque of Madinah, where scholars would come to transcribe more copies. Furthermore, Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qasim al-Khoei believed that Ali possessed a Quran of his own, according to William St. Clair Tisdall, if such content had existed in the Quran then Of course the Sunnite Khalifahs had very great reason to endeavour to suppress any such passages. Since at least the 10th century, Sunnis have incessantly attacked Shia for their perceived espousal of Quranic distortion and this accusation of tabdil —a result of Shiite distrust towards the companions—was scathingly refuted by Ibn Hazm. Mohsen Fayz Kashani Nimatullah Al Jazaairi Muhammad Baqir Behbahani — who wrote in al-Fawāid al-ḥāiriyya and our position is that it is permitted to act upon one of the famous seven variants. The indicator for this position is the statement, or rather the order, Shia also tend to interpret the Quran more allegorically and less literally than Sunnis. For example, Shia writers, including Ali Ibn Ibrahim Qomi, hadith of The Cloak 4,24, or an-Nisa,24, also called as the verse of Mut‘ah, is the Quranic verse that some Shīites use to prove the legality of temporary marriages. Wali There are some common disputed misconceptions and accusations about the Shī‘ah regarding their beliefs and this accusation of tahrīf tampering is antithetical to scholars and is considered polemical. The above sūratayn are considered forgeries and do not appear in published Qurans, Shī‘ah Muslims consider the accusation that they are using a different Quran as one of the misconceptions about the Shia. The Shī‘ah recite the Quran according to the Qira’t of Hafs on authority of ‘Asim, the issue of Tahreef has been a matter of disagreement between many classical Shia scholars. Overall, it is claimed that the Shia have more than 1,000 hadiths ascribed to the Shia Imams which indicate the distortion of the Quran. According to Muhammad Baqir Majlisi, the difference of opinion among the scholars and jurists was as follows, No one from the people claimed…’, meaning, those other than the Imāms. Some accused Shī‘ah of alleging that Fatimah had her own Mushaf, the Mushaf of Fatimah, again, Shī‘ahs reject this as a misrepresentation of facts aimed at discrediting them. According to Momen Shiite Imams had certain books in their possession, list of Shia books Al-Jafr Al-Jamia Criticism of Twelver Shia Islam

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Arabic
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Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested

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Religious text
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Religious texts are texts which religious traditions consider to be central to their religious practice or set of beliefs. It is not possible to create an exhaustive list of religious texts, one of the oldest known religious texts is the Kesh Temple Hymn of Ancient Sumer, a set of inscribed clay tablets which scholars typically date around 2600 BCE. For example, the content of a Protestant Bible may differ from the content of a Catholic Bible, the word canon comes from the Sumerian word meaning standard. Hierographology is the study of sacred texts, the following is an in-exhaustive list of links to specific religious texts which may be used for further, more in-depth study. The writings of Franklin Albert Jones a. k. a, some denominations also include the Apocrypha. For Protestantism, this is the 66-book canon - the Jewish Tanakh of 24 books divided differently, some denominations also include the 15 books of the Apocrypha between the Old Testament and the New Testament, for a total of 81 books. For Catholicism, this includes seven deuterocanonical books in the Old Testament for a total of 73 books, called the Canon of Trent. For the Eastern Orthodox Church, this includes the anagignoskomena, which consist of the Catholic deuterocanon, plus 3 Maccabees, Psalm 151, the Prayer of Manasseh,4 Maccabees is considered to be canonical by the Georgian Orthodox Church. Some Syriac churches accept the Letter of Baruch as scripture, christian Scientists The Bible Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy. This textbook, along with the Bible, serves as the permanent impersonal pastor of the church, the Community of Christ uses the Joseph Smith Translation, which it calls the Inspired Version, as well as updated modern translations. Seventh-day Adventists The Bible The writings of Ellen White are held to a status, though not equal with the Bible. Also known as the Gospel of Mani and The Living Gospel the Treasure of Life the Pragmateia the Book of Mysteries The Book of Giants the Epistles the Psalms, the Shabuhragan The Arzhang The Kephalaia, Discourses, found in Coptic translation. Odù Ifá Jaap Verduijns Odu Ifa Collection Primary religious texts, that is, the Avesta collection, The Yasna, the Visperad, a collection of supplements to the Yasna. The Yashts, hymns in honor of the divinities, the Vendidad, describes the various forms of evil spirits and ways to confound them. Shorter texts and prayers, the Yashts the five Nyaishes, the Sirozeh, there are some 60 secondary religious texts, none of which are considered scripture. The Khordeh Avesta, Zoroastrian prayer book for lay people from the Avesta, religious full text online library Ancient texts library Internet Sacred Text Archive

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Muslim
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A Muslim is someone who follows or practices Islam, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion. Muslims consider the Quran, their book, to be the verbatim word of God as revealed to the Islamic prophet. They also follow the teachings and practices of Muhammad as recorded in traditional accounts, Muslim is an Arabic word meaning one who submits. Most Muslims will accept anyone who has publicly pronounced Shahadah as a Muslim, the shahadah states, There is no god but the God and Muhammad is the last messenger of the God. The testimony authorized by God in the Quran that can found in Surah 3,18 states, There is no god except God, which in Arabic, is the exact testimony which God Himself utters, as well as the angels and those who possess knowledge utter. The word muslim is the active participle of the verb of which islām is a verbal noun, based on the triliteral S-L-M to be whole. A female adherent is a muslima, the plural form in Arabic is muslimūn or muslimīn, and its feminine equivalent is muslimāt. The Arabic form muslimun is the stem IV participle of the triliteral S-L-M, the ordinary word in English is Muslim. It is sometimes transliterated as Moslem, which is an older spelling, the word Mosalman is a common equivalent for Muslim used in Central Asia. Until at least the mid-1960s, many English-language writers used the term Mohammedans or Mahometans, although such terms were not necessarily intended to be pejorative, Muslims argue that the terms are offensive because they allegedly imply that Muslims worship Muhammad rather than God. Other obsolete terms include Muslimite and Muslimist, musulmán/Mosalmán is a synonym for Muslim and is modified from Arabic. In English it was sometimes spelled Mussulman and has become archaic in usage, the Muslim philosopher Ibn Arabi said, A Muslim is a person who has dedicated his worship exclusively to God. Islam means making ones religion and faith Gods alone. The Quran states that men were Muslims because they submitted to God, preached His message and upheld His values. Thus, in Surah 3,52 of the Quran, Jesus disciples tell him, We believe in God, and you be our witness that we are Muslims. In Muslim belief, before the Quran, God had given the Tawrat to Moses, the Zabur to David and the Injil to Jesus, who are all considered important Muslim prophets. The most populous Muslim-majority country is Indonesia, home to 12. 7% of the worlds Muslims, followed by Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Egypt. About 20% of the worlds Muslims lives in the Middle East and North Africa, Sizable minorities are found in India, China, Russia, Ethiopia. The country with the highest proportion of self-described Muslims as a proportion of its population is Morocco

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Revelation
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In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Some religions have religious texts which they view as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired, for instance, Orthodox Jews, Christians and Muslims believe that the Torah was received from Yahweh on biblical Mount Sinai. Most Christians believe that both the Old Testament and the New Testament were inspired by God, Muslims believe the Quran was revealed by God to Muhammad word by word through the angel Gabriel. In Hinduism, some Vedas are considered apauruṣeya, not human compositions, and are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti, what is heard. The 15,000 handwritten pages produced by the mystic Maria Valtorta were represented as direct dictations from Jesus, aleister Crowley stated that The Book of the Law had been revealed to him through a higher being that called itself Aiwass. A revelation communicated by a supernatural entity reported as being present during the event is called a vision, direct conversations between the recipient and the supernatural entity, or physical marks such as stigmata, have been reported. In rare cases, such as that of Saint Juan Diego, the Roman Catholic concept of interior locution includes just an inner voice heard by the recipient. In the Abrahamic religions, the term is used to refer to the process by which God reveals knowledge of himself, his will, in secondary usage, revelation refers to the resulting human knowledge about God, prophecy, and other divine things. Revelation from a supernatural source plays an important role in some other religious traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. Revelation may be defined as the communication of truth by God to a rational creature through means which are beyond the ordinary course of nature. George Joyce draws a distinction between revelation and inspiration, with the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, beginning about the mid-17th century, the development of rationalism, materialism and atheism, the concept of supernatural revelation itself faced skepticism. In The Age of Reason, Thomas Paine develops the theology of deism, rejecting the possibility of miracles, Thomas Aquinas believed in two types of individual revelation from God, general revelation and special revelation. In general revelation, God reveals himself through his creation, such that at least some truths about God can be learned by the study of nature, physics, cosmology. Special revelation is the knowledge of God and spiritual matters which can be discovered through supernatural means, such as scripture or miracles, direct revelation refers to communication from God to someone in particular. Though one may deduce the existence of God and some of Gods attributes through general revelation, Aquinas believed that special revelation is equivalent to the revelation of God in Jesus. The major theological components of Christianity, such as the Trinity and the Incarnation, are revealed in the teachings of the church, special revelation and natural revelation are complementary rather than contradictory in nature. Continuous revelation is a term for the position that God continues to reveal divine principles or commandments to humanity. In the 20th century, religious existentialists proposed that revelation held no content in and of itself, Revelation is a human response that records how we respond to God

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Allah
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Allah is the Arabic word for God in Abrahamic religions. In the English language, the word refers to God in Islam. The word is thought to be derived by contraction from al-ilāh, which means the god, and is related to El and Elohim, the word Allah has been used by Arabic people of different religions since pre-Islamic times. More specifically, it has used as a term for God by Muslims. It is now used by Muslims and Arab Christians to refer to God. It is also often, albeit not exclusively, used in this way by Bábists, Baháís, Indonesian and Maltese Christians, similar usage by Christians and Sikhs in West Malaysia has recently led to political and legal controversies. The etymology of the word Allāh has been discussed extensively by classical Arab philologists, grammarians of the Basra school regarded is as either formed spontaneously or as the definite form of lāh. The majority of modern scholars subscribe to the theory. Cognates of the name Allāh exist in other Semitic languages, including Hebrew, the corresponding Aramaic form is Elah, but its emphatic state is Elaha. It is written as ܐܠܗܐ in Biblical Aramaic and ܐܲܠܵܗܵܐ in Syriac as used by the Assyrian Church, Biblical Hebrew mostly uses the plural form Elohim, but more rarely it also uses the singular form Eloah. Regional variants of the word Allah occur in both pagan and Christian pre-Islamic inscriptions, different theories have been proposed regarding the role of Allah in pre-Islamic polytheistic cults. Some authors have suggested that polytheistic Arabs used the name as a reference to a god or a supreme deity of their pantheon. The term may have been vague in the Meccan religion, according to one hypothesis, which goes back to Julius Wellhausen, Allah was a designation that consecrated the superiority of Hubal over the other gods. However, there is evidence that Allah and Hubal were two distinct deities. Some inscriptions seem to indicate the use of Allah as a name of a polytheist deity centuries earlier, some scholars have suggested that Allah may have represented a remote creator god who was gradually eclipsed by more particularized local deities. There is disagreement on whether Allah played a role in the Meccan religious cult. No iconic representation of Allah is known to have existed, muhammads fathers name was ʿAbd-Allāh meaning the slave of Allāh. The Aramaic word for God in the language of Assyrian Christians is ʼĔlāhā, arabic-speakers of all Abrahamic faiths, including Christians and Jews, use the word Allah to mean God

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Arabic literature
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Arabic literature is the writing, both prose and poetry, produced by writers in the Arabic language. The Arabic word used for literature is Adab, which is derived from a meaning of etiquette, Arabic literature emerged in the 5th century with only fragments of the written language appearing before then. The Quran, widely regarded by people as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language, would have the greatest lasting effect on Arabic culture and its literature. Arabic literature flourished during the Islamic Golden Age, but has remained vibrant to the present day, with poets, the Quran had a significant influence on the Arab language. The language used in it is called classical Arabic, and while modern Arabic is very similar and it contains injunctions, narratives, homilies, parables, direct addresses from God, instructions and even comments on itself on how it will be received and understood. It is also, paradoxically, admired for its layers of metaphor as well as its clarity, the word Quran means recitation, and in early times the text was transmitted orally. The first attempt at a written version was during the reign of the third Rightly Guided Caliph. Although it contains elements of both prose and poetry, and therefore is closest to Saj or rhymed prose, the Quran is regarded as entirely apart from these classifications, the text is believed to be divine revelation and is seen by Muslims as being eternal or uncreated. This leads to the doctrine of ijaz or inimitability of the Quran which implies that nobody can copy the works style, say, Bring you then ten chapters like unto it, and call whomsoever you can, other than God, if you speak the truth. This doctrine of ijaz possibly had a limiting effect on Arabic literature. And as to the poets, those who go astray follow them Do you not see that they wander about bewildered in every valley and this may have exerted dominance over the pre-Islamic poets of the 6th century whose popularity may have vied with the Quran amongst the people. There were a lack of significant poets until the 8th century. One notable exception was Hassan ibn Thabit who wrote poems in praise of Muhammad and was known as the prophets poet, just as the Bible has held an important place in the literature of other languages, The Quran is important to Arabic. It is the source of ideas, allusions and quotes. Aside from the Quran the hadith or tradition of what Muhammed is supposed to have said, the entire body of these acts and words are called sunnah or way and the ones regarded as sahih or genuine of them are collected into hadith. Some of the most significant collections of hadith include those by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, the research into the life and times of Muhammad, and determining the genuine parts of the sunnah, was an important early reason for scholarship in or about the Arabic language. Muhammad also inspired the first Arabic biographies, known as al-sirah al-nabawiyyah, the earliest was by Wahb ibn Munabbih, whilst covering the life of the prophet they also told of the battles and events of early Islam and have numerous digressions on older biblical traditions. Some of the earliest work studying the Arabic language was started in the name of Islam, tradition has it that the caliph Ali, after reading a copy of Quran with errors in it, asked Abu al-Aswad al-Duali to write a work codifying Arabic grammar

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Muhammad in Islam
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Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbdul-Muttalib ibn Hashim, in short form Muhammad, is considered by Muslims to be the last Rasul and Nabi sent by Allah to guide humanity to the right way. The religious, social, and political tenets that Muhammad established in the light of Quran became the foundation of Islam, Muslims often refer to Muhammad as Prophet Muhammad, or just The Prophet or The Messenger, and regard him as the greatest of all Prophets. He is seen by Muslims as a possessor of all the virtues, as an act of respect, Muslims follow the name of Muhammad by the Arabic benediction sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, a practice instructed by Qur’an and Hadith. The deeds and sayings in the life of Muhammad – known as Sunnah – are considered a model of the life-style that Muslims are obliged to follow. Recognizing Muhammad as Gods final messenger is one of the requirements in Islam which is clearly laid down in the second part of the Shahadah. The Qur’an chiefly refers to Muhammad as Messenger and Messenger of God, and asks people to him so as to become successful in this life. Born in about 570 CE into a respected Qurayshi family of Mecca, because of persecution of the newly converted Muslims, upon the invitation of a delegation from Medina, Muhammad and his followers migrated to Medina in 622 CE, an event known as Hijra. A turning point in Muhammads life, this Hijra also marks the beginning of Islamic calendar. Despite the ongoing hostility of the Meccans, Muhammad, along with his followers, took control of Mecca in 630 CE, treated its citizens with generosity, and ordered to destroy all the pagan idols. By the time he died in 632, his teachings had won the acceptance of Islam by almost all the tribes of the Arabian Peninsula. The Qur’an enumerates little about Muhammads early life or other details, but it talks about his prophetic mission, his moral excellence. According to the Qur’an, Muhammad is the last in a chain of prophets sent by God, throughout the Qur’an, Muhammad is referred to as Messenger, Messenger of God, and Prophet. Some of such verses are 2,101,2,143,2,151,3,32,3,81,3,144,3,164,4, 79-80,5,15,5,41,7,157,8,01,9,3,33,40,48,29, and 66,09. Other terms are used, including Warner, bearer of glad tidings, the Quran asserts that Muhammad was a man who possessed the highest moral excellence, and that God made him a good example or a goodly model for Muslims to follow. The Quran disclaims any superhuman characteristics for Muhammad, but describes him in terms of human qualities. In several verses, the Quran crystallizes Muhammad’s relation to humanity, according to the Quran, God sent Muhammad with truth, and as a blessing to the whole world. The Quran also categorizes some theological issues regarding Muhammad, the most important among them is the edict to follow the teachings of Muhammad. The Quran repeatedly commands people to follow God and his Messenger in verses including 3, 31-32,3,132,4,59, and 4,69